Telangana sees highest surge with 1087 new cases; state warns pvt labs over data mismatch

Hitting its highest single-day tally, Telangana on Saturday, reported 1087 new Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 6 new deaths - Hyderabad amounts to 888 cases. The state also saw 162 recoveries taking its recovered tally to 8265. Telangana, which has faced flak for its low testing has tested 3923 samples taking its total test tally to 79,231. The state has 13,436 cases and 243 fatalities.

Telangana finally allows private labs to test for COVID-19 as positivity rate soars to 20%

Telangana reports 1000+ cases

The state government has also warned certain private labs for not following SOP for testing. The government has alleged that there were discrepancies in the number of tests conducted, positives reported as some labs were reporting 70% positivity rate. The state's expert panel has directed the labs to rectify its gaps within 48 hours.

Telangana Health Minister slams Centre, says ICMR diverted its ventilators to other states

Central team to visit Telangana

On June 25, the Centre announced that a Central team led by Lav Aggarwal- the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health will visit  Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Telangana from June 26-29. The team shall interact with the state officials and coordinate with them to strengthen the ongoing efforts for the management of COVID-19. Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajendra has alleged that that the state had asked for 1000 ventilators from the Centre but was given only 50.

COVID-19 crisis: Central Health Ministry team to visit Maharashtra, Gujarat & Telangana

Telangana CM expands testing

On June 14, CM K Chandrashekhara Rao allowed private hospitals to test for COVID-19  after reviewing the state's COVID-19 response. Moreover, the Chief Minister has reportedly directed that 50,000 people must be tested in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Medchal and Sangareddy districts. On May 22, the Telangana High Court directed the Telangana government to allow authorised private labs to conduct Covid-19 tests and private hospitals to commence treatment, but the state ruled out involving private labs and hospitals, defending its testing mechanism saying it followed ICMR guidelines.

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Telangana's testing worries

As of date, Telangana has only tested 79,231 samples, as per the government's health bulletin.  In comparison, its neighbour Andhra Pradesh has tested  7,91,624 samples till date. Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have over 10,000 cases testing positive - Telangana has 13,436 cases and Andhra has 11,489 cases. On one hand, due to Andhra Pradesh's massive testing, its test positivity rate  — the ratio of positive diagnosis to the number of tests conducted — is at 1.45%, while Telangana's positivity rate is at 16.95%, which is higher than India's positivity rate (6.36%).