One person died and 27 fresh
COVID-19 deaths were reported in Telangana on Thursday while the state government expressed hope its containment and other efforts will bear fruit and there will be a decline in the number of infections.
With this, the COVID-19 toll in the state has risen to 25 while the active cases to 693, it said.
Health Minister E Rajender said fresh cases were being reported from the containment zones and not from other areas.
On the whole, as per the current trend, the number of cases is coming down a bit. Positive cases are being reported from containment zones and not from rural areas...We feel this is a good sign, he told reporters here.
There is some decline also in positive cases. We only hope there would be a decline in another four-five days because of this containment and measures taken by us, he said.
According to a bulletin issued by the state government on Thursday night, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state shot up to 970 with 27 more testing positive.
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As many as 58 people were discharged from hospitals on Thursday, taking the number of people discharged cumulatively to 252, according to an official release.
Rajender said death and recovery rates in Telangana were 2.6 per cent and 22 per cent as against the national average of 3.18 per cent and 19.9 per cent respectively.
The government directed the medical officials to explore all possibilities to reduce death rate, assuring provision of any equipment for the purpose of treatment, he said.
The stock of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits crossed four lakh, while that of N-95 masks more than 4.50 lakh, the Minister said.
The sports facility at Gachibowli in the city, which has been turned into a hospital by the government in a record time, was now available and patients would be admitted there in case the state-run Gandhi hospital reached its capacity, he said.
Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who held a review meeting with senior officials late on Wednesday night,has also expressed hope that the spread of COVID-19 inthe state may see a decline due to the strict implementationof lockdown rules and containment measures undertaken.
On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled a mobile virology research and diagnostics laboratory (MVRDL) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in association with the ESIC Hospital here and private industry participation through video conference, an official release said.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several timely decisions because of which the spread of COVID-19 in the country is far less compared to many other countries.
Appreciating the setting up of the Bio-Safety Level 2 and Level 3 lab in just 15 days, he said the testing facility which can process more than 1,000 samples in a day will enhance the country's capabilities in fighting COVID-19 in the country.
Meanwhile, aimed at providing relief to tenants during the lockdown period, the Telangana government directed residential property owners to defer collection of rent from tenants for three months, due to hardships being faced by people following the ongoing lockdown.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police in Mancherial district was temporarily shifted to the office of the Director General Police (DGP) after a letter with his signature allowing vehicle pass among others to a person went viral on the social media, a senior police official said.
The ACP wrote "permitted" and signed on the application/letter without taking orders from his superior officers, the official said.
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