Ahmedabad: With two more suspected deaths from Chandipura infection, the state govt has intensified the identification of possible cases, and the generation of lab reports. The state govt on Monday maintained that there have been only three confirmed deaths due to the infection. State govt officials, after a meeting convened by MoS (health) Praful Pansheriya, said only seven cases have been confirmed positive after 12 of the 19 samples tested negative for the virus. While several children are under observation at various hospitals in the state, results are awaited for eight samples.The meeting was attended by ACS and commissioners of health along with senior officials.“Laboratory testing for the accurate diagnosis of the virus is progressing rapidly. Seven samples have tested positive and 12 negative. The results of the remaining eight samples are expected by this evening,” Pansheriya told media after the meeting.“The health department, in coordination with the Indian Medical Association, has issued guidelines to all paediatric specialists in the state and directed them to remain in close coordination with the department’s headquarters in Gandhinagar,” he added.Doctors running small centres and private clinics have also been instructed that if any suspected case is detected, the child should be given primary treatment and then immediately referred, without delay, to a larger hospital equipped with oxygen and ventilator facilities. “Preventive measures have been taken at all 61 locations in the state where Chandipura virus cases were reported in 2024.”The minister claimed that no new cases have been reported from these areas. He added that authorities had immediately launched fogging, sandfly-control spraying and sanitisation drives in the newly affected areas. The govt has also ensured adequate stocks of medicines and essential medical supplies at health facilities across the state, including primary health centres.
