Telangana crossed the 1,000 cases mark with 1,078 testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday. ICU beds occupied also crossed 1,000 and there were six deaths, recalling the figures last seen in October and November 2020.
The 1,078 new cases include 283 from Greater Hyderabad, 113 from Medchal-Malkajgiri and 104 from Rangareddy.
Kerala’s case graph rose further by 2,541 cases on Saturday. The test positivity rate (TPR) rose to 5.67%.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at Kannur on Saturday that the second wave raging through neighbouring States was a warning for Kerala. Mutant variants were found in a significant percentage of samples in Maharashtra and Punjab and it was likely that with unrestricted domestic travel, these variants could reach Kerala soon.
He appealed to all in the eligible age groups – 45 years plus – to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The pace of vaccination would go up once the primary health centres were also equipped to function as vaccination sites, he added.
The State recorded 12 new deaths in the list of COVID fatalities on Saturday. Kannur reported three deaths, Kollam, Thrissur and Kozhikode two each, and Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam one death each.
Kozhikode reported the maximum number of new cases at 568.
Andhra Pradesh recorded nine more COVID-19 deaths, the highest since December 6, on Saturday morning. New infections stood at 1,398.
Two fatalities each occurred in Guntur and Nellore, and one each in Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Prakasam and Visakhapatnam districts.
Even with a rising TPR, the State continued to test only around 30,000 samples a day. In the past day, 31,260 samples had a TPR of 4.47%.
Guntur reported 273 new infections, Visakhapatnam (198), Chittoor (190), Krishna (178), Nellore (163) and Kurnool (96), Kadapa (75), Srikakulam (51), Prakasam (48), Vizianagaram (47), Anantapur (36), East Godavari (28) and West Godavari (15).
19 dead in Karnataka
Karnataka on Saturday reported 4,373 new cases, 3,002 cases from Bengaluru Urban alone. With 19 more deaths, the toll rose to 12,610.
On Saturday, 80,217 senior citizens and 1,11,537 people above 45 years were vaccinated in the State till 8 pm.
(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada and Bengaluru bureaus)
