46 per cent of Telangana's COVID-19 cases of March reported in last 7 days

HYDERABAD: Nearly 1,643 COVID-19 cases have been added to Telangana's tally in just a week’s time, raising alarm bells in the State. On Thursday, 313 new cases were reported, taking the active cases to 2,434.

 An analysis of the data from the last three months shows that this is the first time that cases have been on a rise. In January, the State reported 7,772 cases, of which the second half of the month saw just 3,469. In comparison, only 4,336 cases were reported in February. However, within 19 days in March, the State has seen a total of 3,553 cases, indicating a sharp rise in the curve.

The rise has especially been sharp this week, with 46 per cent of all cases in the month coming in the last seven days. Amongst the cases seen in the last seven days, the load has been from Kamareddy, Mancherial, GHMC, Rangareddy, Adilabad and Medchal, where one or more school clusters have been observed.

However, even as cases rise, the positivity rate remains low with the government increasing monthly tests to 60,000 and more. The death rate has also been low, with just 120 reported this year.

Two Osmania University students test positive

Two women students of the Osmania University (OU) tested positive for COVID-19 during a screening held at the girl’s hostel on Thursday. Soon after their reports came out, the university administration isolated all the hostel boarders.

It is now making arrangements to screen the remaining 900-odd inmates of four hostels, OU registrar Ch Gopal Reddy said. Last week, two male students had tested positive when tests were conducted at the boys' hostels. 

Schools and universities across Telangana have turned into clusters of COVID-19 cases as a second wave of the pandemic grips the nation. In the last two weeks, at least 50 students, most of them from residential schools, tested positive for the disease.