27 fresh COVID-19 cases in Telangana; Govt hopeful of dip in coming days
With this, the COVID-19 toll in the state has risen to 25while the active cases to 693, it said.
Health Minister E Rajender said fresh cases were beingreported from the containment zones and not from other areas. On the whole, as per the current trend, the number ofcases is coming down a bit. Positive cases are being reportedfrom containment zones and not from rural areas...We feel thisis a good sign, he told reporters here. There is some decline also in positive cases. We onlyhope there would be a decline in another four-five daysbecause of this containment and measures taken by us, hesaid.
According to a bulletin issued by the state government onThursday night, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state shotup to 970 with 27 more testing positive.
As many as 58 people were discharged from hospitals onThursday, taking the number of people discharged cumulativelyto 252, according to an official release.
Rajender said death and recovery rates in Telangana were2.6 per cent and 22 per cent as against the national averageof 3.18 per cent and 19.9 per cent respectively. The government directed the medical officials to exploreall possibilities to reduce death rate, assuring provision ofany equipment for the purpose of treatment, he said. The stock of personal protection equipment (PPE) kitscrossed four lakh, while that of N-95 masks more than 4.50lakh, the Minister said. The sports facility at Gachibowli in the city, which hasbeen turned into a hospital by the government in a recordtime, was now available and patients would be admitted therein case the state-run Gandhi hospital reached its capacity, hesaid.
Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who held a reviewmeeting with senior officials late on Wednesday night,hasalso expressed hope that the spread of COVID-19 inthe statemay see a decline due to the strict implementationof lockdownrules and containment measures undertaken.
On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled amobile virology research and diagnostics laboratory (MVRDL)developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) in association with the ESIC Hospital here and privateindustry participation through video conference, an officialrelease said.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said the government underthe leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has takenseveral timely decisions because of which the spread ofCOVID-19 in the country is far less compared to many othercountries. Appreciating the setting up of the Bio-Safety Level 2 andLevel 3 lab in just 15 days, he said the testing facilitywhich can process more than 1,000 samples in a day willenhance the country's capabilities in fighting COVID-19 in thecountry.
Meanwhile, aimed at providing relief to tenants duringthe lockdown period, the Telangana government directedresidential property owners to defer collection of rent fromtenants for three months, due to hardships being faced bypeople following the ongoing lockdown.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police in Mancherialdistrict was temporarily shifted to the office of the DirectorGeneral Police (DGP) after a letter with his signatureallowing vehicle pass among others to a person went viral onthe social media, a senior police official said.