SMC junior engg succumbs, cases see worst spike at 205

Surat: Bharat Gandhi, a 48-year-old junior engineer with Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC)’s election branch, succumbed to Covid-19 at SMIMER Hospital on Sunday.

According to SMC officials, Gandhi tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to hospital on July 7. “We lost a co-worker, Bharat Gandhi, on Sunday. He had suffered respiratory failure and had Acute Coronary Syndrome (STEMI) and pneumonia,” said Dr Ashish Naik, deputy municipal commissioner (health), told TOI.

“This is the second death among SMC employees in the last 10 days due to the pandemic. Earlier, sanitary sub-inspector of the civic body’s leprosy department in Khatodra, Girish Bhadrka, 48, had died on July 7. Even prior to him, another 48-year-old employee, Shailesh Bhoyre, sanitary inspector (SI) and a frontline worker posted in the coronavirus hotspot of Maan Darwaja under the Umarwada ward, had died. It was claimed that Bhoyre had passed away due to the severe heart attack but his Covid-19 test was not conducted,” said a senior SMC official.

“Till now, 120 SMC employees have tested positive for Covid-19 in the city which include 18 doctors, 20 sweepers, 13 nurses, nine sanitary inspectors and sub-inspectors, seven lab technicians, six ward boys, five peons, one assistant municipal commissioner and five teachers among others,” an SMC official said.

Meanwhile, the city reported 205 fresh cases on Sunday, the highest in the state, while three have succumbed to the virus.

“Katargam continues to report the highest number with 44 new cases, followed by 31 in Varachha (B), 29 in Varachha (A), 28 in Rander and 22 cases in Athwa zone,’‘ said an SMC official.

Moreover, all the eight civic zones have reported above 500 Covid-19 cases as the city crossed 7,000 mark on Sunday.