Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan, the head priest of Shree Purushottampriyadasji Swamishree Maharaj, has died of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. He was 78 years old
According to the Indian Express, the temple trust had appointed his successor, Shree Jitendriyapriyadasji Swami.
"Acharya of Shree Swaminarayan Gadi, His Divine Holiness Shree Purushottampriyadasji Swamishree manifested on this Earth on 28th May 1942 (Samvat 1998 Adhik Jeth Sud 13) in the village of Bharasar in Kutch, Gujarat, India. It is with great sadness to His beloved Sants and disciples around the world that He willed to withdraw His human darshan on 16th July 2020," the temple said in a statement.
The report added that Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan was admitted to Ahmedabad’s CIMS Hospital on June 28 after he tested positive. He was put on ventilator and also administered two doses of plasma therapy.
Besides him, 10 other priests were admitted to various private hospitals in Ahmedabad after they tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile for the third consecutive day, Gujarat recorded over 900 cases, as the number of cases on Wednesday moved from 11,000 to 12,000, Ahmedabad Mirror reported.
The coronavirus tally in Ahmedabad district rose to 23,599 after 173 new cases were reported on Wednesday, the state health department said.
With two COVID-19 fatalities, the death toll rose to 1,527, it said.
Also, 212 coronavirus patients were discharged in the district, raising the number of recovered cases here to 18,339, the department said in a release.
As many as 159 new cases were reported from areas under Ahmedabad municipal limits (the city), and 14 from rural parts of the district, the department said in a release.
Both the deaths reported on Wednesday were from the city.
Out of the 212 new recoveries of patients, 201 were reported from the city and 11 from rural parts of the district, said the release.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) continued to revise the demarcation of micro-containment areas in the city as part of its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
It has removed five existing areas from the list and added 20 new localities from where new cases were reported.
With this, the number of micro-containment areas in Ahmedabad city has risen to 210, the AMC said.
With 14 new cases reported from Ahmedabad''s rural areas, the COVID-19 tally crossed the 1,000-mark and rose to 1,005.
The number of recovered cases in Ahmedabad rural has gone up to 844, which is around 84 per cent of the total cases.
With PTI Inputs
