In Gujarat, the first two cases of the COVID-19 pandemic were confirmed on 19 March 2020 in Rajkot and Surat.
Timeline
March 2020
15 March: Anil Mukim, Chief Secretary of Gujarat, announced the closure of schools, colleges, educational institutes, malls, multiplexes, and swimming pools across the state until March 29 as a precaution against COVID-19. However, the ongoing board examinations for class X and XII were allowed to be conducted. Also, fine of ₹500 was imposed on public spitting in Gujarat. 16 March: Shyamal Tikadar, Chief Wildlife Warden of Gujarat, announced that the state's national parks, sanctuaries, and conservation reserves will remain closed from March 17 to March 29. Gujarat High Court said it will only take up those matters categorized as urgent until March 31. 17 March: Statue of Unity closed for tourists until March 25. Platform ticket rate increased from ₹10 to ₹50 at 12 railway stations in Gujarat as a preventive measure against COVID-19 by the Western Railway of India. 18 March: Atul Pandya, Director of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad said that the Ashram will remain closed for visitors from March 19 to March 29 to control the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure the safety of citizens. 19 March: Gujarat reports first two cases of COVID-19. A 32-year-old man from Rajkot, who returned from Saudi Arabia, and a 21-year-old woman from Surat, who returned from UK, were tested positive. 20 March: Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat, said no government buses in the state will be working on March 22 in view of the 'Janata Curfew' announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 21 March: As COVID-19 cases increase in the state, Government of Gujarat partially locks down four cities - Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. All shops selling non-essential items in the four cities will remain closed until March 25 and government offices will operate at half strength on rotational basis until March 29. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced that the new 1,200-bed capacity Civil Hospital of Ahmedabad will be kept exclusively for treating coronavirus patients and would serve as the nodal infection control centre. 22 March: Gujarat reports first COVID-19 death. A 69-year-old man died in Surat. Government of Gujarat extended the partial lockdown to Gandhinagar. 23 March: Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha announced that entire Gujarat will be placed under complete lockdown starting from 12:00 AM of March 24 until March 31. The Gujarat High Court decided to hear "extremely urgent matters" through video conferencing, to ensure social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 24 March: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced complete lockdown in entire country for 21 days starting from March 25 to April 14 as a preventive measure against the COVID-19. All businesses and services in India, except essential ones, were suspended during this period. The Government of Gujarat decided to mass-promote all the students of Class 1 to 9 and Class 11 to the upper standard without examination due to uncertainty over lockdown and spread of COVID-19 in Gujarat. 25 March: Gujarat reports second COVID-19 death. An 85-year-old woman who had returned from Dubai died in Ahmedabad. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced that Government of Gujarat would provide food items for free to 60 lakh poor families and 3.25 crore individuals holding ration cards from April 1. 26 March: Gujarat reports third COVID-19 death. A 70-year-old man died in Bhavnagar. Government of Gujarat announced free food doorstep facility for elderly persons staying alone at home during lockdown. 27 March: Out of 44 COVID-19 patients in Gujarat, 18 got infected through local transmission while the rest 26 had travel history. Government of Gujarat launched a mobile app to track home-quarantined persons and announced to provide food and accommodation to migrant workers but would restrict their travel during the 21-day lockdown period. 28 March: Number of cases in Gujarat crossed the 50-mark. Gujarat reports fourth COVID-19 death. A 46-year-old woman died in Ahmedabad. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced that the Government of Gujarat will grant Rs 25 lakh to the family of any police official who dies while on duty amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 29 March: Gujarat reports first COVID-19 recovery. A 34-year-old woman recovered in Surat. Gujarat reports fifth COVID-19 death. A 47-year-old man died in Ahmedabad. Gujarat ranks second in positive cases after Maharashtra, and ranks highest in mortality rate in India. Government of Gujarat said it will release around 1,200 prisoners for two months on parole and interim bail to reduce jail crowding. 30 March: Government of Gujarat has distributed 8.95 lakh food packets across the state to date. Out of total COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, around 50% cases are result of local transmission, 2 cases indicate community transmission. 31 March: Government of India identified Ahmedabad in Gujarat as a COVID-19 hotspot in the country as 3 patients have died out of total 5 cases in the city. Other hotspots in the country include Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin in Delhi, Noida and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Bhilwara in Rajasthan, Kasargod and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra.
April 2020
1 April: 72 persons from Gujarat who have attended the Tablighi Jamaat Event in Delhi's Nizamuddin area, which emerged as a major COVID-19 hotspot, were identified by Gujarat Police. Of them, 71 persons were quarantined; one of them died of COVID-19 in Bhavnagar. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said that the deadline for the repayment of short-term crop loans has been extended until May 31. 2 April: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced ₹650 crore package for 65 lakh families of the poor, labourers, unorganised workers, construction workers of the state. Government of Gujarat warned factories, businesses and employers by saying that FIRs will be filed under the Disaster Management Act against those who would lay off workers or would cut their salaries during the lockdown period. 3 April: Ashwani Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, said that Government of Gujarat has decided to provide 25,000 N95 masks to private doctors in the state so that they can provide better healthcare facilities to people. Government of Gujarat initiated hiring of retired police personnel in order to deploy them as additional force to impose the lockdown across Gujarat. 4 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 100-mark. Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat reached 10. Five of them died in Ahmedabad. Gujarat had increased the risk of local transmission. 62 cases out of total 105 were of local transmission. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani informed that there will be no shortage of ventilators in Gujarat as local industrialists in the state have successfully made ventilators in 10 days. 5 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 50-mark. Government of Gujarat announced ₹25 lakh compensation in case sanitation and health workers, revenue and food supplies staff, fair price shop owners die of COVID-19 while working in the frontline. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) increased its COVID-19 survey team's strength to 500 from 136. 6 April: Government of Gujarat declared 15 localities in four cities - Ahmedabad (8), Surat (3), Bhavnagar (2) and Vadodara (2) - as COVID-19 hotspots in the state, and decided to completely seal the areas, under the cluster containment strategy. After successful launching and testing of Ventilators, Gujarat manufacturers would now make Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N95 Masks for being self-reliant to fight the battle against the COVID-19. 7 April: Government of Gujarat, which had earlier announced (on April 5) ₹25 lakh compensation to front-line staff, extended the cover to all government employees who are involved in jobs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 8 April: Government of Gujarat declared 31 private hospitals across the state as designated COVID-19 hospitals. The 31 new hospitals will increase bed capacity for COVID-19 patients by 4,064. Earlier, the designated COVID-19 hospitals across the state were operational in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat and had combined capacity of 2,200 beds. 9 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 200-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 100-mark. Out of the total 241 cases in the state, 33 have international travel history, 32 have interstate travel history, and 176 were locally infected. Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department (Gujarat), said that Government of Gujarat has ordered for 50,000 Rapid Antibody Test (RAT) kits from abroad, in addition to kits to be received from the central government. 10 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 300-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Vadodara crossed the 50-mark. 11 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 400-mark. Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 20-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 200-mark. Government of Gujarat allowed to operate fishing and allied activities of processing, packaging, maintenance of cold chains, and transportation of fish and prawns. 12 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 500-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Vadodara crossed the 100-mark. Ahmedabad Civic Body made it mandatory (from 6:00 AM of April 13) for people of Ahmedabad to wear mask or any cloth to cover the nose and mouth when going out in public places and said that those found without masks will be fined ₹5,000 and those who fail to deposit the fine will be jailed for 3 years. 13 April: Number of COVID-19 recoveries in Gujarat crossed the 50-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 300-mark. 14 April: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown in entire country for 19 days from April 15 to May 3. Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 600-mark. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Ahmedabad, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani decided to impose curfew in three hotspot areas - Danilimda, Jamalpur and Dariyapur of Ahmedabad from 6:00 AM of April 15 to 6:00 AM of April 21. Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said that Ahmedabad Civic Body has readied the India's largest COVID-19 Care Centre in Ahmedabad with a capacity to accommodate 2000 patients. 15 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 700-mark. Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 30-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 400-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Surat crossed the 50-mark. Out of 170 districts identified as COVID-19 hotspot in India, Gujarat has 5 hotspot districts - Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Rajkot. 16 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 900-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 500-mark. Government of Gujarat has set up designated COVID-19 hospitals in all districts of Gujarat and now has 8700 bed capacity for COVID-19 patients. 17 April: Number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 1,000-mark. Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 40-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 600-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Surat crossed the 100-mark. 18 April: Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 50-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 800-mark. Ashwani Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, said that from April 20 NFSA card-holding families will get ₹1000 assistance for the month of April. 19 April: Number of COVID-19 recoveries in Gujarat crossed the 100-mark. Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 60-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 1,000-mark. Number of COVID-19 cases in Surat crossed the 200-mark. 20 April: Number of COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat crossed the 70-mark.