In a development that has authorities worried, 25 people residing in an apartment building in Hyderabad's Madannapet area have tested positive for COVID-19. The building has now been cordoned off.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said that a containment zone has been set up, blocking entry and exit into the apartment alone by setting up a tall barricade around the main gate.
While officials suspect that one of the 25 people was a primary contact of a COVID-19 patient and a birthday party held at the apartment may have spread the virus, they are yet to officially make an announcement regarding the source.
GHMC commissioner Lokesh Kumar and several senior officials visited the apartment on Saturday to oversee containment measures and ensure that residents were being provided with essentials so that they remain indoors.
Officials also checked sanitation measures and told workers on the ground to ensure that the entire area was thoroughly disinfected.
All 25 people who tested positive were shifted to the Gandhi Hospital for treatment even as authorities began contact tracing.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Telangana, with 55 people testing positive on Saturday, taking the total tally of the virus in the state to 1,509.
No fresh death was reported and the number of virus-related deaths continued to be 34, a health department bulletin said. Twelve people were discharged from hospitals on Saturday.
The rise in cases has been mainly in the GHMC area, where there has been no let-up in fresh cases for many days now. On Saturday, 44 out of the 55 cases were from the GHMC, while eight were of migrants who arrived in the state in the last few days, the bulletin said.
In the remaining three cases, two were from Sangareddy district and one from Ranga Reddy district, both neighbouring Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, as part of the repatriation exercise to airlift stranded Indians abroad under the Vande Bharat Mission, an Air India flight from Newark (USA) via Delhi landed at Hyderabad International Airport on Saturday with 121 passengers.
PTI inputs