India

With 269 COVID cases, Telangana sees highest one day jump

Hyderabad, June 17 (IANS) Telangana on Wednesday reported the highest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases as 269 people tested positive.

With this the tally of positive cases in the state jumped to 5,675. The earlier highest single-day jump was 253, registered on June 13.

Greater Hyderabad continued to be the biggest hotspot, accounting for 214 of the new cases.

One death was also reported on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 192.

For a second consecutive day, the health department mentioned in the media bulletin the number of tests conducted.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, 1,096 samples were tested on Wednesday. The cumulative number of tests stands at 45,911.

Officials said 40,236 of those who underwent the COVID-19 test were not found infected by the virus.

With 151 people being discharged, the number of active cases or patients undergoing treatment in hospitals stand at 3,071.

Facing flak from various quarters including the opposition for conducting fewer tests, the government started showing the number of tests conducted in the media bulletin. On Tuesday, 1,251 samples were tested and 213 of them were found positive.

The government had announced on Sunday that 50,000 tests would be conducted in Greater Hyderabad and surrounding districts over one week to 10 days. The health authorities started conducting the tests in containment zones and high risk groups from Tuesday.

The government also permitted private hospitals and diagnostic centres to conduct COVID-19 tests. It fixed Rs 2,200 as the cost of the test.

It was not clear if the tests being conducted by private hospitals and labs included in the figures were shown in media bulletins for the last two days.

–IANS

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