Gujarat reported 5,396 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the active cases in the state to 18,583. There was no new case of Omicron reported in the State, the health department bulletin informed.

During the 24 hours ended at 5 PM on Friday, the State registered one death and 1,158 patients were discharged.

Most cases were reported form Ahmedabad city, which saw 2,281 new cases and 580 discharged, followed by Surat at 1,350 cases and 248 discharged. As per the health department bulletin, total 18 patients were on ventilator support.

Earlier the State health minister had informed that Gujarat has strengthened its hospital infrastructure as a preparedness for the possible third wave. Currently there are total 1,10,000 beds available across the state for COVID-19 patients, which includes 15,900 ICU beds and 7,800 ventilator beds. Each hospital has been directed to spare 10-20 per cent beds for children with dedicated 1000 ventilators.

Notably, Gujarat's cases are rising rapidly with test positivity ratio (TPR) surging from an average of 1.7 per cent for the State on January 1 to 5.2 per cent as on January 6.

The State government has imposed additional restrictions with increased curfew timing to 10 pm to 6 am applicable for eight big cities and two other towns Anand and Nadiad. Emergency and essential services are allowed to operate during the curfew timings.

Also, the government has suspended offline teaching for classes 1-9 till January 31, while higher classes are allowed to function with 50% capacity.

The mass gatherings are capped at 400 in open spaces and upto 50% capacity in the closed premises with upper limit of 400.

Public transport is allowed at 75 per cent capacity, while multiplexes, cinema halls, libraries, gym and hotels are allowed to operate with 75 per cent capacity.

The new restrictions to remain in force till January 15, the guideline from the State government said.

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