Telangana Sunday witnessed the highest single day spike in COVID-19 cases with 730 new patients testing positive in the state. This takes the overall COVID-19 case count to 7,802. A total of 3,731 people have been discharged after treatment and there are 3,861 active cases.
Sunday also saw seven people succumbing to the coronavirus, pushing the state's death toll to 210. The number of cumulative tests stood at 57,054.
According to the Director of Public Health, 3,297 samples were tested during a 24- hour period between Saturday and Sunday, taking the cumulative figure of tests to 57,054.
Out of the 3,297 samples collected in one day, 730 returned positive, which reflects a positivity rate of 22.14%. This is far higher compared to the national average of around 6%.
Of the 730 fresh cases, the area under the jurisdiction of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for 659 patients followed by Jangaon (34) and Ranga Reddy district (10), a state government bulletin said.
Officials said 225 people were discharged on Saturday.
Among the cases reported on Sunday were senior Congress leader and former MP V Hanumantha Rao, who tested positive for the coronavirus and was admitted to a private hospital in Hyderabad.
Some Congress leaders who were in contact with him have placed themselves in self-quarantine.
In a related development, five police personnel including a Station House Officer (SHO) ranked official of the Hyderabad Police tested positive for the coronavirus. Those who came into contact with the policemen have been placed under home quarantine.
The cases were reported even as a decision was taken that the Secretariat and other state-level government offices will function with 50% of their workforce as part of the new guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19 in government offices.
The employees in the state administrative headquarters and other state-level offices will attend the duties on an alternate day basis. The new curbs will come into effect from Monday and will continue till July 4.
Officers having separate chambers allotted to them have to attend duties regularly.
Any officer or staff having vulnerabilities like pregnancy or comorbidities can stay at home duly, taking appropriate leaves.
With IANS and PTI inputs