As many as 26 people, including five schoolchildren, tested positive for COVID-19 in Surat in October, said Deputy Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation on Tuesday. Commenting on the sudden spike in COVID cases, Dr Ashish Naik, Deputy Commissioner, Surat Municipal Commissioner, said, "26 people, including five students, have been tested positive for COVID-19 in October. In August, there were 75 positive cases and in September there were 124 cases. On average, everyday 7-8 people are being tested positive for Coronavirus. Moreover, of the five, three students are from the same school, so we have closed down the school for seven days."

He further said, "We are collecting swab samples from all the schools and coaching classes. In Surat, there are 69 COVID-19 clusters, where over 6,000 people are residing. In these clusters, the corporation has requested the people not to celebrate or congregate for Dussehra."

So what could be the reason behind the increase in cases? Dr Naik said, "The reason for the rise of COVID-19 cases in the past 10 days is because of the congregation of people at Ganesh pandals and not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour." Ganesh Chaturthi was on September 10.