With mass testing, Telangana reports over 1300 COVID-19 cases in four days
By Amritha Mohan Published on 20 Jun 2020 10:26 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Telangana, the only state which did not provide the number of Covid-19 tests conducted till June 15, has taken a turn in the last five days. Following the orders of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state, the authorities have ramped up the number of Covid-19 tests and also included it in the health bulletin made public every day.
It may be noted that with mass testing, Telangana has witnessed 1,333 COVID-19 cases in the past four days, since June 16.
One can also notice a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state since June 16. On Friday, Telangana recorded a highest number of 499 cases. On June 16, the number of positive cases was 213 and it jumped to 499 on June 19, indicating that the number of cases were increasing with the tests.
| Telangana | COVID-19 tests conducted | Cumulative number of tests conducted | Positive cases | Total positive cases |
| June 16,2020 | 1,251 | 44,431 | 213 | 5,406 |
| June 17, 2020 | 1,096 | 45,911 | 269 | 5,675 |
| June 18,2020 | - | - | 352 | 6,027 |
| June 19,2020 | 2,477 | 50,569 | 499 | 6,526 |
However, it also needs to be noted that on June 18, the government went back to its old practice by withholding testing numbers for the particular day. While testing numbers for June 16 and June 17 remained under 1,500, on June 19, the number of tests has increased, with 2,477 tests conducted in a single day.
Since June 15, the Telangana government has allowed private hospitals and labs to conduct Covid-19 tests and provide treatment, while fixing a cap on the charges. Earlier, when these private labs were given approval from ICMR to conduct tests, the state government had put a hold on the process.
Now, the state is planning to conduct extensive random testing to cover about 50,000 people in 30 constituencies in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Medchal and Sangareddy districts in 10 days.
In Telangana, private laboratories are allowed to charge Rs 2,200 for conducting one
Covid-19 test. For isolation and treatment facility in private hospitals, the fee prescribed is Rs 4,000 per day. Further, for ICU (Intensive Care Unit) without ventilator facility, the fee is Rs 7,500 per day and, for ICU with ventilator facility, it is Rs 9,000 per day.
