HYDERABAD: Continuing the upward trend, COVID-19 cases in Telangana touched a new high of 920 on Thursday, pushing the state’s tally to over 11,000.
With 11,364 cases, Telangana has the 10th highest number of cases among the states in India.
The day also saw five more people succumbing to the virus, taking the death toll to 230.
Out of 920 cases, the highest single-day jump, 737 cases were reported from Greater Hyderabad, the worst affected district. Rangareddy and Medchal districts bordering Hyderabad registered 146 cases. The remaining cases were reported from 15 other districts.
The media bulletin issued by the director of public health and family welfare shows the number of daily tests came down to 3,616 from 4,069 tests on Wednesday. The cases, however, increased from 891 to 920.
The state has so far conducted 70,934 tests, still among the lowest in the country.
The health department on Thursday decided to pause the mass testing being done in Greater Hyderabad since June 16. The government had announced that 50,000 tests would be conducted in a week to 10 days. The director said so far 36,000 samples were collected.
He said they decided to pause the collection of samples for two days to clear the backlog. He pointed out that 8,235 samples were yet to be tested in laboratories.
While the rising cases triggered fears among people, the government in the health bulletin provided statistics to show that it has created ample infrastructure to tackle the situation. According to the bulletin, only 1083 (6.34 per cent) of 17,081 COVID-19 beds in 34 identified hospitals were occupied.