COVID-19: Telangana reports just 2 fresh cases; 21 districts will become virus-free tomorrow

Maintaining the downward trend witnessed in the last four days, Telangana on Monday reported only two fresh coronavirus cases and 16 discharges after recovery with the TRS government expressing hope that the state would become free of the disease in coming days.

The number of COVID-19 positive cases rose to 1,003 while the active patients stood at 646 with the total discharges at 332 and 25 deaths, it said in a bulletin.

Both the new cases were reported from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area.

The number of new cases has been declining for the past four days. The state witnessed 11 and seven cases on Sunday and Saturday respectively.

Expressing satisfaction over the decreasing trend, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in a statement said there were clear indications that Telangana will become a No COVID-19 cases state in the coming few days.

By April 28, as many as 21 districts out of the 33 in the state will not be having any coronavirus active cases, he said adding the process of identifying the contacts of persons who attended the Markaz (Tablighi jamaat) meeting in Delhi last month will go on.

"The number of containment zones in the state are decreasing as the number of fresh positive cases are dropping. If trends are observed, the virus spread is mostly contained," he said in the statement.

Even if any fresh cases crop up, the medical and health department were fully geared up to take up necessary action.

The Chief Minister held a high-level review meeting here on Monday after attending the video conference by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers.

Rao said the virus spread had been "successfully contained" in the state due to strict implementation of lockdown.

He said the spread initially was due to those who came from abroad and later from those who attended the religious meeting at the national capital.

The virus spread is on steep decrease for the past several days. Confidence is growing that in a very few days there will not be a single positive case in the state. Even after this, if a case or two is detected, there will be no difficulty in getting those cases treated...," he said.

The government was working with a perfect strategy to contain the virus spread, he added.

Maintaining that treatment can be given to any number of persons affected by COVID-19 , Rao said the medical and health department was ready with testing kits, personal protection equipment kits, N95 Masks, tablets, instruments and beds.

The lockdown in the state will continue till May 7 as announced earlier. People should cooperate with the guidelines. People from all the faiths should offer their prayers and celebrate their festivals at home, the CM urged.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), on a visit to the state to assess the COVID-19 situation, on Monday inspected a containment zone in the city besides the government quarantine centre at the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and also the state-run Gandhi Hospital, where coronavirus positive patients are undergoing treatment.

The team, headed by Arun Baroka, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, also enquired with the GHMC officials on how the services were rendered to the residents of the containment zone in emergency cases such as diabetics, paralysis and blood pressure, officials said.