Hyderabad: Telangana crossed the dubious milestone of 50,000 Covid-19 cases on Thursday. The number of those infected by the coronavirus touched 50,826 with 1,567 new cases reported during the day.
The health department reported nine more deaths, taking the toll to 438.
In a strange but unnerving coincidence, the health department said the number of patients who are on oxygen or continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machines at Gandhi Hospital on Thursday, was 438. Of the 664 patients in Gandhi Hospital, 125 were in intensive care.
The day also witnessed a scare at Gandhi Hospital when it experienced a 21-minute power cut. It took about seven minutes for the generators to kick in.
Hospital superintendent Dr K. Raja Rao said the power cut did not lead to any issue and “no problem occurred in the emergency & ICU areas and other patient care areas.” The power cut occurred at about 5.35 pm and the generators began functioning at 5.42 pm.
The incident was enough to alert health minister Etala Rajendar, who issued immediate instructions to all government hospitals to ensure they have stand-by generators and to ensure seamless changeover of power supply for patient care during a power outage.
While the Greater Hyderabad area continued to be at the top of the list with 662 new cases, the rest of the state recorded 905 cases indicating that Covid-19 is taking a stronger hold of other cities and towns and rural areas.
Ranga Reddy district, which envelops Hyderabad, recorded 213 cases with the third highest figure for the day, 75, coming from Warangal Urban district.
The other districts to have registered an increase cases include Rajanna-Sircilla with 62, Nagarkurnool 51, Nalgonda 44, Suryapet 39, Nizamabad 38, followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri with 33, Sangareddy 32, Medak 27, and Warangal Rural 22 cases.
Of the 50,826 cases so far, 39,327 people have recovered from the disease representing 77.3 per cent of total Covid-19 patients, the health department said. As on Thursday, Telangana state had 11,052 active cases, it said.
