COVID-19: Telangana sees less than 1,000 cases in single day after two months

Hyderabad: For the first time in two months, Telangana saw less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases in a day after 948 cases were reported on 19 October. The last time the state had reported less than 1,000 cases was on 3 August when it registered 983 positive cases.

Also, there has been a drop in the number of samples tested daily. In the third week of August, the government had ramped up testing and tested more than 50,000 people every day. But as the number of positive cases dropped below to 2,000, the number of tests being conducted has also decreased. On 9 October, the state tested more than 50,000 people while on 18 October, only 26,027 samples were tested.

According to experts, people are returning to the testing centres following the incessant rains in the city in the past few days. Meanwhile, 19 people who were shifted to a GHMC relief camp have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past four days. “We are conducting Rapid Antigen Tests for people rescued from inundated areas and sent to relief centres. Of the 2,000 people who were tested, 19 were COVID-positive,” said G. Srinivas Rao, the director of public health.

On Sunday, Mr. Rao had urged people to celebrate Dussehra, Diwali, and other festivals only with family members and avoid public gatherings.

The recovery rate in the state has also gone up. On Sunday, 1,896 people recovered from the virus taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 2,00,686. The recovery rate, according to the government, now stands at 89.96 per cent, which is approximately one per cent higher than the national average of 88.2 per cent.

The state currently has 21,098 active cases. Among them, 17,432 are under home isolation. The number of active cases is going down every day. Also, after months Telangana reported less than five deaths on a single day after it saw four deaths on Monday.