The steady rise of COVID-19 cases in Telangana continued on Tuesday. The state recorded 879 COVID-19 cases, as well as three deaths. The death toll in the state stands at 220.  Telangana tested around 3,006 samples, out of which 879 of them tested positive for SARS CoV-2.

Among the 879 cases, Hyderabad recorded the highest of 652 cases followed by the neighbouring Medchal district with 112 cases. Rangareddy recorded 64 cases. The remaining cases were from Jangaon, Sangareddy, Warangal rural, Warangal urban, Mancherial, Kamareddy, Mahabubabad, Medak and Nagarkurnool districts, according to the medical bulletin. 

On Tuesday, 219 patients were also discharged. With this, the state currently has 5,109 active cases. So far, the state has tested a cumulative of 63,249 samples.

Meanwhile, State Health Minister Eatala Rajender on Tuesday announced that they would double the testing to 6,600 against the 3,400 tests per day. While other states are conducting rapid testing, Telangana is sticking to conducting real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) tests. On Tuesday, the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh conducted over 20,000 tests, out of which 407 were tested positive for the virus. Similarly, Tamil Nadu tested over 25,000 persons, out of which 2,516 of them tested positive.

However, justifying the government’s decision, Minister KT Rama Rao recently remarked that the “indiscriminate” testing could have a negative effect on people's psyche. 

“We cannot afford to create panic or fear among people at this juncture, which will only cripple the healthcare infrastructure, and the actual patients who are in need of tests might not have an opportunity to get the diagnosis done,” KTR was quoted as saying by Telangana Today. 

The Telangana BJP is also protesting against the state’s COVID-19 response.