Telangana crosses 60 lakh-mark in Covid sample testing

Telangana crossed a milestone on Friday in its fight against Covid-19 as the state so far conducted over 60 lakh tests.

With 56,178 samples tested during the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests mounted to 60,29,209.

Samples tested per million population ratio rose further to 1,61,988.

The daily testing target for the state is 5,600 per day as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 per million per day, officials said

Eighteen government-run laboratories, 54 private laboratories, and 1,076 Rapid Antigen test centers are conducting the tests in the state.

During the last 24 hours, 56,178 samples were tested — 52,718 in government-run laboratories and 3,460 in private labs.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, the state reported 612 positive cases, taking the cumulative tally to 2,76,516.

Out of the total positive cases so far, 70 percent (1,93,561) were asymptomatic while the remaining 30 percent (82,955) were symptomatic.

The data shows that 63.9 percent of those tested positive so far were aged between 21-50 years. As many as 22.91 percent were aged above 51 years. The positive cases include 13.18 percent who were below 20 years.

Of the total cases, 60.44 percent were male and 39.37 percent female.

Three more persons succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,485.

The fatality rate stands at 0.53 percent against the national average of 1.5 percent. According to the director of public health and family welfare, 44.96 percent of the deaths were due to Covid while the remaining 55.04 were on account of comorbidities.

Officials said 502 people recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries to 2,67,427.

The recovery rate stands at 96.71 percent against the national average of 94.8 percent.

The state now has 7,604 active Covid cases and of the 5,511 were in-home or institutional isolation.

During the last 24 hours, Greater Hyderabad logged 144 new cases. Rangareddy district saw the second-highest number of new cases at 73 followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (60), Warangal Urban (29), Karimnagar (28), Nalgonda (21), and Khammam (18).

Over 90 percent of beds in the government-run hospitals treating Covid-19 in the state remained vacant.

Out of 8,561 beds available in 61 government hospitals treating Covid, 7,774 beds were vacant. A total of 787 people were undergoing treatment in these hospitals.

Similarly, in 220 private hospitals treating Covid, only 1,306 beds were occupied. Out of 8,476 beds, 7,170 were vacant.