Telangana health officials begin complaining about private corona tests

Hyderabad: Telangana added on 920 more cases to its Covid-19 case load on Thursday and is well on its way to the 1,000-a-day mark. The state had been adding on more than 700 cases in the past two days.

Greater Hyderabad contributed no less than 737 new cases on Thursday.

The total number cases so far is 11,364. Five more patients died during the day, taking the toll to 230, the daily Covid-19 bulletin released by the health department said.

Barely more than a week since the health department approved COVID-19 testing by private accredited laboratories, it complained about “serious” abnormalities in the results uploaded by private labs on the designated web portal. “This may be due to technical issues in the way of testing,” it said.

A team of specialists inspected private labs to check the availability of infrastructure, trained manpower, testing procedure and quality control. Based on the reports, an expert committee will evaluate whether the testing protocols in these labs are as per ICMR standards or not.

“Accordingly, a view will be taken on a further course of action,” the health department said.

The state government recently announced that around 50,000 samples would be tested in Hyderabad and its neighbouring districts as part of its measures to check the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, nearly 180 doctors working in different government hospitals have contracted COVID-19. About 85 of them are from Osmania Medical College. Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences has 75 medical professionals positive. Another 16 are reported to have been infected by the disease at the Kakatiya Medical College and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Warangal.

The number of mediapersons affected by Covid-19 is nearing 100. Twelve journalists tested positive on Thursday, as per the Telangana State Media Academy.

Of the cases announced on Thursday, 86 were from Ranga Reddy, 60 from Medchal-Malkajgiri, 13 from Karimangar, four from Rajanna-Siricilla, three from Mahbubnagar, and Nalgonda, two each from Mulugu, Medak and Warangal Urban, and one each from Warangal Rural, Kamareddy, Siddipet, Vikarabad, Jangaon, Mahbubabad, Adilabad, and Kumrumbheem-Asifabad districts, the bulletin said.