Eight deaths, 1,682 new cases in Telangana
Hyderabad, Aug 18 (IANS) Eight more people died of COVID-19 in Telangana while 1,682 new cases pushed the tally to 93,937, health officials said on Tuesday.
With the fresh fatalities, the death toll mounted to 711. However, the fatality rate in the state is still low at 0.75 per cent against the national average of 1.92 per cent. Officials said 53.87 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities.
A day after the slump in the daily count to less than 1,000, the positive cases rose again as authorities ramped up the number of tests.
The state had reported 894 cases on Monday as the number of tests conducted fell to 8,794. During the last 24 hours ending Monday 8 p.m., 19,579 samples were tested.
The officials claim that the number of tests was much higher than the state’s target of 5,600 as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 tests per million per day.
With this the number of tests conducted in the state so far mounted to 7,72,928. Samples tested per million population stand at 20,818. The test results of 560 samples were awaited.
In addition to 16 government and 23 private laboratories conducting RT-PCR/CBNAAT and TRUENAT tests, the state has 1,076 rapid antigen testing centres.
According to the media bulletin issued by the office of the director of public health and family welfare, 2,070 people recovered from COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries to 72,202.
With this the state further improved its recovery rate to 76.68 per cent against the national average of 72.51 per cent. The number of active cases now stands at 21,024 including 14,140 who were in home/institutional isolation.
Of the new positive cases reported in the state, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for 235, followed by 166 in Ranga Reddy district and 106 in Medchal Malkajgiri. Warangal Urban district saw 107 new cases while 94 new infections were reported in Nizamabad. Officials said 88 new cases were reported in Karimnagar, 79 in Mancherial, 69 in Jogulamba Gadwal, 59 each in Peddpalli and Jagtiyal, 47 each in Siddipet and Rajanna Sircilla, 45 in Khammam and 32 in Mahabubnagar.
New cases were reported from all 33 districts. Only two 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. Terming this as a susceptible age group, authorities have urged them not to go out unless absolutely necessary. They were advised to strictly exercise precautions like wearing face masks and maintaining physical distancing.
Among the COVID positive cases, 24.4 per cent were 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, 17,807 beds were vacant.
122 private hospitals treating COVID cases have a total of 8,101 beds and out of them 3,806 beds were vacant.
According to the media bulletin, the state has over 800 containment zones with the highest 124 in Ranga Reddy district, followed by 85 in Mahabunagar, 80 in Rajanna Sircilla and 79 in Gadwal. Greater Hyderabad has 64 containment zones.
–IANS
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