In the continuing surge in coronavirus fatalities in Telangana, 14 people succumbed on Sunday, pushing the toll to 137.
This is the highest ever single-day jump since the state reported its first fatality due to COVID-19 in March and it broke the previous highest of 10 recorded on Saturday. The state has now seen 24 deaths in two days.
The Health Department has not provided any details of the deceased like their age, sex and the districts they hailed from. Manoj Kumar, a journalist with a Telugu television channel, aged 22 years old, was the youngest to succumb to the disease on Sunday.
Half of the deaths reported were aged between 60 to 70 years, while two were aged between 40 to 50 years, and the oldest person to die was aged 85 years, reported The New Indian Express.
Ten of the reported casualties had pneumonitis and respiratory failure while three others had hypertension, chronic kidney disease and grade 4 cough, reported the Times of India.
The state also reported 154 new positive cases on Sunday, taking the tally to 3,650. All the cases were reported among locals.
Greater Hyderabad continued to be the worst affected region in the state, accounting for 132 out of the fresh cases reported on Sunday. Adjoining districts Ranga Reddy and Medchal together reported 15 cases.
Officials said 1,742 patients have recovered so far. With this, the number of patients in hospitals stands at 1,771.
Meanwhile, Health Minister E Rajender said COVID-19 is spreading in the state due to increased movement of people following the lockdown relaxation. He said that if the elderly persons and those with co-morbidities are infected by COVID-19, the death toll may further go up.
The minister said the government was doing its best to check the fatalities and was ready to bring the best available medicines from anywhere in the world but people should cooperate to contain the spread of the virus.
"The lockdown has been lifted so that people don't lose their livelihood but they should not risk their lives by unnecessarily stepping out of their houses," he said.
The minister appealed to people and the society to cooperate in ensuring that those positive cases which have no symptoms or have mild symptoms, are treated in their homes.
He voiced concern that people in some areas were troubling those in home quarantine. Rajender said that despite the campaign by the government to contain coronavirus, people were still scared.
He cited an instance of Ziaguda area in Hyderabad where three members of a family tested positive. "They decided to stay in the house but their neighbours troubled them, forcing them to go to the hospital," he said.
The minister said this situation was adding to the burden on hospitals. He said that in view of the increasing COVID-19 cases, primary health centres were directed to treat those coming with complaints of cold and cough.