E-Paper
2 Telangana MPs test Covid positive as list of infected VIPs becomes longer
Despite the high number of Covid-19 infections recorded in the state, Telangana’s recovery rate is close to 90%, which is better than the national average.
Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy representing Bhongir parliamentary constituency and Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP B B Patil from Zahirabad parliamentary constituency in Telangana tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday evening.
Both the leaders tweeted that they had tested positive and were confined to home quarantine because symptoms were not severe. “I am healthy. But I request all those who have come in touch with me in the last one week to get tested for the virus,” Venkat Reddy said.
The Congress MP recently took part in the campaign for by-elections in Dubbak assembly constituency in Siddipet.
Several other political leaders in the state including home minister Md Mahmood Ali, finance minister T Harish Rao, panchayat raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and many other TRS and Congress MLAs tested positive for Covid-19 in the last five months.
On Thursday, former minister and senior TRS leader Nayini Narasimha Reddy died of post-Covid-19 complications.
On Friday morning, Telangana recorded 1,421 new Covid-19 infections and six fatalities, taking the overall Covid-19 death toll to 1,298 and the cumulative number of positive cases so far to 229,001. There are 20,377 active Covid-19 cases in the state, according to the latest reports.
As many as 1,221 persons were declared recovered on Friday, taking the cumulative Covid-19 recoveries in the state to 207,326, with a recovery rate of 90.53%, while the countrywide recovery rate is 89.5%.
Also Read: Telangana pegs flood damage at ₹9,400 cr as Central team visits Hyderabad
Between Wednesday and Thursday, 38,484 Covid tests were conducted in the state, while reports of another 877 samples are awaited. So far, a total of 4,017,353 Covid-19 tests have been conducted in the state, out of which 229,001 have tested positive.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the health department officials claimed that the rate of recovery of Covid-19 patients was 95.10%, which is the highest in the country.
The state’s mortality rate stands at an impressive 0.82%-- almost half of the national average of 1.51%-- despite the high number of cases.
Also Read: Among the 1st voices for separate Telangana, Nayini Narasimha Reddy falls to Covid-19
According to health commissioner K Bhaskar, ever since the ‘Unlock’ phase was initiated in the state, the authorities have been very vocal about the strategy employed. Despite a drastic increase in the caseload, the state was undeterred when it came to large-scale testing and detecting cases early enough, thereby saving lives.
“Detecting cases early gives the doctors the chance to treat the patients and reduce mortality. Moreover, we are testing more in vulnerable zones or containment zones. We will continue to test on a war footing,” the official said.
