Ahmedabad, November 20: The ruling BJP in Gujarat has decided to postpone its two-day 'Chintan Shivir' (brain storming session), which was scheduled to begin on November 21, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a party spokesperson said on Friday.

State BJP president C R Paatil was supposed to chair the two-day session in Gandhinagar, and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel were also scheduled to attend, state BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said. Gujarat's BJP Legislator Madhu Shrivastav Flouts COVID-19 Safety Protocols, Dances at Temple in Vadodara Without Wearing Mask (Watch Video).

"It's an old tradition in the BJP to organise Chintan Shivirs to discuss issues concerning people, about the party's organisation and elections. In view of the present coronavirus situation, we have decided to postpone the session for now," Pandya said.

The session will be held at an appropriate time in the future, he added.

Gujarat has been witnessing a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of this month.

Over 1,300 fresh cases were detected on Thursday, of which Ahmedabad district alone recorded 246 infections. Gandhinagar district also reported 80 new cases in 24 hours till 5 pm on Thursday.

In order to contain the viral spread in Ahmedabad city, authorities have announced a 57-hour weekend curfew from 9 pm on Friday till 6 am on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Centre is sending a high-level team to Gujarat to provide necessary guidance to the local authorities regarding containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of COVID-19 cases.

The health ministry on Thursday said Dr S K Singh, director of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will be leading the team, which will visit districts with high number of infections.