With a surge in COVID-19 cases in Telangana, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Thursday directed officials to increase the bed strength in government and private hospitals.

Somesh Kumar chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials in Hyderabad to take stock of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the state.

He directed them to increase the bed count so as to be prepared for any eventuality in case of a further increase in cases across the state.

The Chief Secretary also directed the District Collectors to ramp up testing, intensify vaccination and focus on enforcing the government orders on COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, including mandatory wearing of masks.

Similarly, he asked them to double COVID-19 care centres in all the districts.

The private hospitals should also be sensitized on the judicious usage of oxygen, Kumar added.

Telangana has reported 3,307 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day spike since the pandemic broke out last year.

In view of the second wave of Covid, the authorities recently added 10 government and about 25 private hospitals to the list of health facilities treating COVID-19 patients.

The current bed strength of all Covid hospitals in the state is 22,575 including 9,281 in government-run centres.

The measures come after the state recorded 3,307 cases as of April 14, this is the highest number of cases reported so far. Eariler on April 11 the state had reported 3,187 cases which were deemed the highest then.

The state reported eight deaths on April 13 and April 14.  Greater Hyderabad remained the worst-hit with 446 new cases while adjoining districts of Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy recorded 314 and 277 cases respectively.