51 new Covid-19 cases reported in Telangana; Hyderabad continues to be red zone

Hyderabad: Two more coronavirus patients succumbed to it in Telangana on Tuesday, taking the state’s covid-19 death toll to 32. On the same day, 51 more people also tested positive for the virus, taking the state’s total number of cases to 1,326, while 21 others recovered and were discharged from hospitals post treatment. Over the last two days, Hyderabad has also reported 116 fresh Covid-19 cases.

According to a bulletin from the state government, 37 of the 51 new cases were reported from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, while the remaining 14 who tested positive were migrants. On Monday, the state reported its largest ever single-day spike in numbers, when 79 new cases were detected, with all of them being from Hyderabad and its surrounding areas.

As of Tuesday, the total number of active cases are 472, while 822 (61%) patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals post recovery. Most of the cases being reported over the last few weeks in fact have all been from the capital city, which has resulted in Hyderabad having several containment zones.

Moreover, out of the state’s total 33 districts, 26 haven’t reported any fresh cases over the last 14 days, while the districts of Warangal (urban), Yadadri and Wanaparthy haven’t reported any Covid-19 cases till date, added the bulletin. Hyderabad still continues to remain a major red zone, as it is the most affected district in the state.

With Monday and Tuesday’s spurt in cases, the state government will be ramping up its efforts in containing the virus. Chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over video conference on Monday and urged him not to restart passenger train services.

Stating that the movement of passengers (and potential carriers of covid-19) will not be possible to track, KCR told Modi that not only will it be impossible to conduct tests on everyone, but that placing everyone who travels by train in quarantine will also be difficult.

Categorically saying that “we have to live with corona”, KCR, in a statement from his office, also said that he told Modi that there is a possibility a vaccine for Covid-19 could be produced in Hyderabad itself .

KCR also pointed out to Modi that no state is in a position to repay loans and that all loans of state governments should be rescheduled. “Like the way banks reschedule farm loans, state governments loans should also be rescheduled. The Centre should act in this direction,” he reportedly told the prime minister during his video conference.

Between 11 May and 12 May, a total of three flights with Indians who were stranded abroad due to the pandemic abroad landed in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on the Vande Bharat flights. Air India flight AI 1839 (Boeing 773 aircraft) from the Unite Kingdom arrived via Delhi at RGIA on Tuesday at 2.21 a.m. with 331 Indian citizens stranded in the UK.

Later on Tuesday morning, the same aircraft departed as AI 1840 carrying 87 passengers from Hyderabad to Delhi, from where they were to be airlifted to the US. A day earlier on Monday, 118 Indian nationals who were stranded in the US due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic landed at the RGIA.