HYDERABAD: Telangana recorded the highest single-day spike of 4,446 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday. With this, the State’s active cases stand at 33,514, which is also the highest ever active caseload in the State. The previous peak Telangana saw was on September 3, 2020, with 32,994 active cases. Of these, a whopping 11,396 individuals are hospitalised.
The active caseload is recorded across the State and is higher in districts bordering Maharashtra and those neighbouring the GHMC. The GHMC area recorded the highest cases with 598, followed by Medchal with 435 and Rangareddy with 326 cases.
At present, 15 of the 33 districts are recording over 100 cases, including Nalgonda, where the Nagarjuna Sagar bypoll was held on Saturday. The district has seen 168 cases, which is a sharp rise from last week, and likely due to the intense campaigning and flouting of social distancing norms. Meanwhile, 12 deaths were also reported, taking the death toll to 1,809.
Vax drive suspended today
Shortage of vaccines has forced Telangana to suspend its vaccination drive in government centres for a day after it began on January 16. The Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao issued a statement on Saturday that on April 18, 2021, no Covid vaccinations would take place in Government Covid Vaccination Centres (GCVCs) across the State. Rao, however, stated that the vaccination drive would be continued from Monday onwards as per the schedule.
The abrupt decision is likely due to the fact that the State was left with just 2 lakh doses on Saturday to conduct vaccinations for the day as well as for the next day. At a press meet held earlier in the day, Rao had stated that only 2 lakh doses were left and these were meant for use on Saturday and for Sunday. However, it is learnt that the same was exhausted to a large extent on Saturday itself as the Cowin dashboard showed nearly 1.40 lakh doses being administered.
The State had been anticipating a consignment of 2.7 lakh doses on Saturday morning. However, it appears that this consignment from the Centre was delayed, causing the temporary suspension. Meanwhile, the impact on vaccinations in private hospitals is likely to negligible as since the past one week, the State has sent very few doses to private hospitals and largely focused on vaccinating frontline workers in government hospitals.