COVID death toll in Telangana crosses 700-mark

Hyderabad, Aug 17 (IANS) The death toll due to COVID-19 in Telangana crossed the 700-mark on Monday as 10 more people succumbed to the virus.

The fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 703 while 894 people tested positive during the last 24 hours, ending Sunday 8 p.m.

This is the second time this month that the daily count of cases slumped below 1,000 as the authorities also reduced the daily tests.

It was surprising that the number of tests were halved despite a big increase in the number of rapid antigen test centres. According to the media bulletin issued by the office of the director of public health and family welfare, the number of government and private laboratories conducting RT-PCR/CBNAAT and TRUENAT types of tests stands at 39.

The number of rapid antigen testing centres increased from 323 to 1,076. However, the total number of tests conducted during the last 24 hours were only 8,794 against 12,120 tests the previous day. This number on Saturday stood at 21,239.

The officials claim that the number of tests was still much higher than the state's target of 5,600 as per the World Health Organization (WHO) benchmark of 140 tests per million per day.

With this the number of tests conducted in the state so far mounted to 7,53,349. Samples tested per million population stands at 20,291. Test results of 421 samples were awaited.

Officials said 2,006 people recovered from COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries to 70,132.

With this the state further improved its recovery rate to 76.01 per cent against the national average of 71.91 per cent. The number of active cases now stands at 21,420 including 14,404 who are in home or institutional isolation.

The case fatality rate in the state stands at 0.76 per cent against the national average of 1.93 per cent. Officials said 53.87 per cent of the deceased had co-morbidities.

After more than two months, the daily case load in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits slumped to less than 200. The state capital reported 147 new cases followed by 85 in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, 69 in Karimnagar, 58 in Siddipet, 51 in Medchal Malkajgiri, A44 in Khammam and 38 in Nizamabad.

Out of 33 districts in the state, no new cases were detected in three districts while 10 districts reported new cases in single digit.

Age-wise COVID positive details show that 65.9 per cent of those tested positive were in the age group of 21-50 years. Authorities have urged people in this age group not to go out unless absolutely necessary. They were advised to strictly exercise precautions like wearing face mask and maintain physical distancing.

Among positive cases, 24.4 per cent are above 51 years of age. About 10 per cent were aged below 20 years.

Officials said 65.10 per cent of those tested positive were male while the remaining 34.90 per cent were female.

According to the media bulletin, out of 20,396 beds in government-run hospitals, 17,804 beds were vacant.

While 120 private hospitals treating COVID have a total of 8,001 beds and out of them 3,577 beds were vacant.

According to the media bulletin, the state has 856 containment zones with the highest 121 in Ranga Reddy district, followed by 81 in Mahabunagar, 80 in Rajanna Sircilla and 79 in Gadwal. Greater Hyderabad has 64 containment zones.