Stepping up efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, top Telangana officials visited three districts with higher number of infections and reviewed containment measures as one person died, taking the toll due to the disease in the state to 24 on Wednesday.
Fifteen more people tested positive for the coronavirus, as the state's tally surged to 943 with 725 active cases, a COVID-19 bulletin said.
In a shift in testing strategy, the government has instructed the health department not to screen asymptomatic secondary contacts of COVID-19 patients, but home quarantine them for 28 days instead of 14 days. Only the primary contacts need to be tested.
State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP M Mahendar Reddy and other senior officials visited Suryapet, Gadwal and Vikarabad districts, where considerable number of cases had been reported, and interacted with the local officers on the containment measures, officials said.
In his directivesto the officers of the three districts, the Chief Secretary stressed on effectively tracing the contacts of persons who tested positive and management of containment zones among others to check the spread of the virus.
According to official sources, Suryapet and Vikarabad districts have 83 and 38 cases respectively.
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Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday asked the top officials to visit different districts to monitor implementation of measures initiated to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
With a fresh death being reported on Wednesday, the number of people who succumbed to the virus in the state rose to 24, the bulletin said.
It said 194 people have been cumulatively cured and discharged from hospitals.
Four mediapersons working for vernacular news channels have been quarantined at Mahabubnagar after it was learnt that they had lunch at the residence of an MLA, who is under home quarantine in neighbouring Gadwal town, a senior government official said.
Gadwal town headquarters of Jogulamba-Gadwal district was declared a Red Zone by the Centre due to considerable number of COVID-19 cases.
The official said the legislator was already in self-home quarantine since April 10 after he came to know that two persons who attended a funeral where he was also present, tested COVID-19 positive.
However the MLA has tested negative of the virus.
"As a precautionary measure, the four media persons were kept in quarantine.They do not have any symptoms of COVID-19. They are all doing fine.They are asymptomatic," the official told PTI.
A communication issued by the Chief Secretary on Wedesday said asymptomatic secondary contacts shall not be tested for COVID-19.
"However, they shall be identified, stamped and placed in strict home quarantine for a period of 28 days and monitored daily by the local area multi-disciplinary surveillance teams," he said.
Only the primary contacts of the positive cases shall be brought to the government identified quarantine centres and their samples be taken for testing, it added.
Meanwhile, a case was registered against a 20-year-old B.Tech student for allegedly abusing a head constable on patroll duty when he was stopped by police at Malkajgiri area here.
The policeman found him roaming on the road without any face mask on Tuesday night, police said.