HYDERABAD: Telangana recorded an alarming spike of 730 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases recorded in the State till now to 7,802. The day also saw seven more Covid deaths, taking the total toll to 210. The extensive testing with a target of conducting 50,000 tests being taken up by the State government from June 16 — following a rebuke by the Telangana High Court on the State’s lax approach towards testing — is exposing many cases of the infection. On Sunday, the State tested 3,297 samples of which 730 returned positive, which means the positivity rate was a whopping 22 per cent. From June 16 to June 21, the State recorded 3,058 cases, which account for 39 per cent of all cases recorded in the State so far.
According to the bulletin on Covid-19 cases released by the Telangana government, the biggest chunk of cases since the Janata curfew have been recorded in June. From June 1 to June 21, the State recorded a total of 5,104 cases. While the State recorded only 22 cases till March 22 when Janatha curfew was imposed, between March 23 and April 14 — the first phase of lockdown — 622 new cases were recorded. In second phase of lockdown from April 15 to May 3, the State recorded 438 new cases, in phase three from May 4 to May 17, 469 cases and in phase 4 between May 18 and May 31 when most of the lockdown norms were relaxed, 1,147 new cases were recorded.
While the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits recorded 659 of the 730 new cases on Sunday, of the remainder of cases, 34 cases were from Jangaon district, 10 from Rangareddy district, nine from Medchal, six from Warangal, three from Asifabad, two from Vikarabad, and one each from Sangareddy, Adilabad, Kothagudem, Narayanpet, Medak and Yadadri districts.
659 cases in GHMC limits
Of the 730 Covid cases recorded on Sunday, 659 were from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Thirty-four cases were from Jangaon district, 10 from Rangareddy, nine from Medchal and six from Warangal