Gujarat government has again hiked the amount of fine charged for not wearing a mask. Talking to media persons today, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that Rs. 1,000 fine will be collected for the violation of mask rule in the State effective from tomorrow.

He said that fine has been hiked following the Gujarat High Court order in this direction. Earlier, the fine for not wearing a mask was hiked to Rs.500 from Rs.200 on 1st August.

In the state, 1311 Covid19 patients recovered during the past 24 hours. The recovery rate in the state has gone up to 76.18%.

It was reported that 1078 new patients of Covid-19 recorded in the state yesterday. A maximum of 178 new cases reported from Surat, while Ahmedabad city recorded 138 new cases. Total cases of Covid-19 in the state have gone up to 71064. Out of 14272 active cases in the state, the conditions of 73 patients are serious.

At the other end, the number of total patients recovered from Covid-19 in the state has gone up to 54138. 25 patients have lost their lives yesterday, taking the total death due to Covid-19 in the state up to 2654. More than 9 lakh 87 thousand tests have been carried out in the state to date, out of which 30985 tests have been carried out yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has added 11 new areas in the Micro Containment Zone. Door to door surveillance and mass screening will be launched in the new areas from today.

Meanwhile, the Municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai this week onwards will start using a voice sampling method to diagnose Covid-19 at one of its jumbo facilities in Mumbai. Although, this will be on a pilot basis the app-based tool will soon be introduced in other hospitals as well. 

Reports say that the Municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai will start a pilot project to use voice analysis to detect COVID -19 at the jumbo COVID -19 facility at NESCO grounds, in suburban Goregaon.

The audio-based app can find a person's Covid-19 status from the voice's timbre. Such voice-based apps or tools have been tested across the world. A suspected patient will be asked to speak into a cellphone or computer, where the voice analysis app has been uploaded. The patient's vital parameters will also be taken. The sample will be compared with the voice of a person not suffering from Covid-19 to provide an analysis.

The app comes preloaded with thousands of voice patterns. If the pilot shows promise, the MCGM plans to use the program in its other hospitals as well. In the process, the civic body will follow up the voice analysis with the RT PCR test-the gold standard for COVID.