One COVID-19 death reported in Telangana, 52 new cases take tally in state to 644

Hyderabad, Apr 14 (PTI)A coronavirus patient died and 52 people tested positive in Telangana taking the number of cases in the state to 644, according to an official bulletin issued on Tuesday.

The virus has so far claimed 18 ives in the state. Of the total 644 cases in the state, 110 have been cured, while 516 are undergoing treatment. According to a bulletin on COVID-19, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has the highest number of active cases in the state at 249 followed by Nizamabad with 36.

Hyderabad district is on high focus as the majority of cases are being reported in GHMC, it said, adding that robust containment is being initiated in the virus-affected area. The administration has set up as many as 221 containment clusters across the state to check the coronavirus spread, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, a group of migrant labourers fromneighbouring Andhra Pradesh, who wanted to go to their native Srikakulam district, were found on a road in Hyderabad today. Police and other officials, who stopped them, sent them back to their homes in Hyderabad in a vehicle. State Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav, who hails from Hyderabad, said the group of men and women would be provided 12 kgs of rice per person (as promised by the state government) and also financial support.

Telangana Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao and Health Minister E Rajender appealed to citizens to strictly follow the lockdown rules and asked officials to acttough on those who bypass norms in 'containment zones'. Rama Rao and Rajender held a meeting with official and discussed the plan of action and the precautionary measures to be taken to control the spread of COVID-19 in Hyderabad in view of a large number of cases being reported from the city.

The Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has been chosen as one of the five validation centres for coronavirus testing kits in the country by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). CCMB is the only non-ICMR lab to be a part of these Centres of Excellence that will validate the non-US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and non-EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation) approved kits for COVID-19 testing, a press release said.

Also, a COVID-19 Sample Collection Kiosk which gets automatically disinfected without the need for human involvement has been developed by the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) in the city. The kiosk is for use by health care workers to take samples from suspected infected patients, an official release said.