Telangana scales up daily Covid tests to over a lakh

Hyderabad, Jan 18:  Telangana on Tuesday logged 2,983 Covid-19 cases while the health authorities conducted over one lakh tests during the 24-hour period.

The state also reported two deaths due to Covid, taking the cumulative toll to 4,062.

A day after the Telangana High Court had on Monday directed the state government to ramp up Covid testing, the state authorities conducted over one lakh tests.

For the first time since the state witnessed a surge in Covid cases early this month, health authorities have tested more than a lakh samples. A total of 1,07,904 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours ending 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

However, the daily Covid bulletin issued by the state Health Department has not given the breakup of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen tests.

The daily cases increased by nearly 22 per cent over the previous day. The state had Monday reported 2,447 Covid cases. However, the positivity rate dipped to 2.76 per cent.

Greater Hyderabad recorded maximum cases at 1,206 followed by its adjoining districts Medchal Malkajgiri (259) and Rangareddy (227). The daily count in Hanamkonda district jumped to 118. The tally in the remaining 29 districts was in double digits.

The 24-hour period also saw 2,706 people recovering from the virus. Cumulative recoveries rose to 6,88,105.

The recovery rate now stands at 96.29 per cent. A total of 22,472 cases are under treatment or isolation.