Gandhinagar,  Continued intensified surveillance and testing for the coronavirus in the hotspots declared in Gujarat's major cities yielded 21 more positive cases on Thursday evening.

Thursday alone had a total of 76 positive cases registered in the state, following the intense testing. Gujarat now has a total of 262 positive cases and 17 deaths.

Ahmedabad, the financial capital of Gujarat had the major chunk of cases spread in the state, with more than half of Gujarat's total positive cases.

On Thursday evening, health authorities detected 21 new positive cases, in addition to the morning's 55. Out of the 21, Ahmedabad had 8, Patan had 7, Vadodara had 4 and in Rajkot, 2 more positive cases were found.

Now Gujarat has a total of 262 positive cases where Ahmedabad has the maximum number of cases at 142, followed by Surat 24, Vadodara 22, Bhavnagar 18, Rajkot and Gandhinagar 13 each, Patan 12, Porbandar 3, Kutch, Mehsana and Gir-Somnath 2 each and Panchmahal, Jamnagar, Morbi, Sabarkantha, Dahod and Anand one each.

"Just like the case in Gandhinagar, the total number of positive cases in Patan's Siddhpur turned out to be a single contact infection, where all the positive cases belong to one family. Due to the cooperation of sarpanches of adjoining villages of Siddhpur town, the entire place has been locked tightly and strictly, so that the spread of virus doesn't go beyond the limited area in Siddhpur," said Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary, Health and family welfare Department, Gujarat.

"Seeing the increasing numbers of positive cases in the hotspots and clusters of Gujarat, we are hopeful of curbing the virus spread. It can be said that the virus is in control," added Ravi.

"But we are fully prepared for the worst scenario also. As far as exclusive COVID-19 hospitals are concerned, ICU care with 6,000 beds, PPE kits, N95 masks, triple layered masks, hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin drugs, we have adequate stock, quantity, facilities. We also have a bank of 9,000 ventilatory care technicians if the need arises," added Ravi.

"We have mapped out the worst scenario in every detail. The Indian Medical Association's (IMA) response towards the government has been very good. They have assured the Gujarat government to standby if the need arises," added Ravi.

"We have also started 23 exclusive COVID-19 hospitals, covering 26 districts of the state in private facilities," said Ravi.

"The government has also taken an important decision. If an asymptomatic elderly person, over the age of 85 is assured by the family members, to provide him/her of isolation facilities in the house itself, the permission will be granted. Shortly we will be framing the guidelines for this," added Ravi.

"Out of the total 215 active cases, the condition of 212 is stable, are on normal air or simple oxygen, whereas the condition of 3 is critical and they are on ventilator," added Ravi.

"In the last 24 hours, we have taken 1,975 samples for testing, where 76 have been found positive, 1,541 negative and 358 are pending," added Ravi.

"The total number of persons quarantined in the state is 12,352, where 11,015 are home quarantined, 1,170 in government facilities and 167 in private facilities," she said.