Telangana reports 431 new COVID-19 cases, Hyd alone adds 111 cases

The state reported two new deaths on March 23 taking the total death toll to 1,676. The fatality rate in the state is 0.55 percent which is less than the national average of 1.4 percent.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area on Tuesday reported 111 new cases. The neighboring Rangareddy district reported 31 new cases. Medchal Malkajgiri reported 37 and Sangareddy 15 new cases.

Other districts of Telangana are also seeing a surge in cases. Mancherial and Jagtiyal on Tuesday reported 21 new cases each while Nizamabad reported 19 new cases and Yadadri Bhongir 16 cases.

The government tested 70,281 citizens on Tuesday. This is the first time the state has tested more than 70,000 citizens in a single day. So far 97,89,113 samples have been tested in the state. Samples tested per million population stand at 2,63,006. Reports of 745 samples are awaited. The state tested 30,923 (44%) primary contacts while 8,433 (12%) secondary contacts.

There are only 20 Government RT-PCR / CBNAAT / TRUENAT centers in the state. Around 60 private centers too are operational. On Monday, 63,533 tests were conducted at Government centers.

The state currently has 3,353 active cases. Of the total active cases, 1,395 are under home isolation. Of total positive cases, 70 percent are asymptomatic with no severe signs of distress, while 30 percent are symptomatic.

Speaking to NewsMeter Dr Rakesh Mishra- Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology said, "Over 18 Indian states are reporting a surge in COVID cases, Maharashtra is in the lead. There are multiple reasons for this, however the most crucial being 'carelessness of public' and violation of COVID norms. Other reasons would be increase in economic and domestic activities, re-opening of educational institutions, theaters. Elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the recently concluded in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would also be a reason to rise in fresh cases".

He further added, "India has seen the presence of the UK, Brazil and South Africa variants but they contribute to 5 % of the new cases. There are other variants originated In India which are spreading at a speed. The scientists at CCMB are studying the COVID positive samples to learn the actual cause and the results may be in a week or two".

The CCMB receives samples from states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

India recorded 47,262 fresh infections taking the tally to 1,17,34,058 total. Nearly 275 deaths have occurred in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,60,441.

Several parts in the country are witnessing a second Covid wave with authorities re-imposing restrictions to control the spread of the virus.