COVID-19: 55 new cases pushes Telangana's tally to 1,509

There was no let up in the daily surge in new infections in Greater Hyderabad. Officials said 44 of the 55 new cases were reported from the state capital.

Eight more migrants tested positive on Saturday, taking the total number in this category to 52. Two people from Sanga Reddy district and a person from Ranga Reddy also tested positive.

According to the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, 12 patients were discharged on Saturday, taking the number of recoveries to 971.

No deaths were reported on Saturday. The death toll in Telangana is 34 so far.

Meanwhile, Health Department data shows that in Hyderabad, which account for nearly 60 per cent of the total cases in the state, 168 families were affected by Covid. Neighbouring Ranga Reddy district comes second with 59 affected families.

Medchal, another district bordering Hyderabad, had 39 affected families. Thus, the three red zone districts have a total of 266 affected families.

Thirty families in Nizamabad district, 26 in Warangal (Urban) and 25 in Surapet were also affected.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Eatala Rajender said that it is not possible to hide fatalities or even positive cases in times of a pandemic.

He said the revised guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) stipulate that a high-level committee comprising professors study each and every death in the state attributed to Covid-19 and then only declares the cause of death.

The Minister said the new guidelines will be implemented without any delay. The health authorities would now base their Covid-19 death declarations on the death audit report submitted by the high-level committee.

The revised guidelines have also changed the discharge policies for Covid-19 patients. Doctors can now discharge mild and moderate coronavirus patients after 10 days, instead of the existing 14-day period.

Mild and moderate positive patients need not undergo the hitherto mandatory coronavirus diagnostic test while getting discharged. However, both category patients must remain under home isolation for seven days after discharge from hospitals.