Telangana COVID-19 Update: 27 New Cases, 1 Death On Thursday

HYDERABAD: Telangana has reported 27 new COVID-19 positive cases on Thursday, and one has died, while 58 people have been discharged, Health Minister Eatala Rajender said.

This takes the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the state to 970, while 25 people have died in the state. The number of people who are discharged stood at 262, he said.

There are 693 active Covid-19 cases who are admitted to Gandhi Hospital as on Thursday, and with the exceptions of a few men, most of them are in stable condition, the minister said.

"We are doing our best to strictly implement lockdown measures across all the containment zones. We are hoping that in the next three to four days, we should be able to control the spread of the coronavirus in Telangana,” Rajender was quoted saying by a leading daily.

The Telangana government headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday announced the extension of the mandatory home quarantine period from the existing 14 days to 28 days in a bid to tighten the lid to prevent the rapid spread of coronavirus in the state.

Till now, the two-week home quarantine is being enforced in the state for those infected with COVID-19 as the incubation period for the dreaded disease is perceived to be 14 days. But, as it turned out in some cases, the patients remained asymptomatic beyond the 14 day and tested positive some time later. In view of this peculiarity, the government in an immediate effort to preempt any such risk in this fashion of further spread of the virus, has taken this crucial decision extending the home quarantine to 28 days.

Telangana is the fifth state to stretch the home quarantine to 28 days. Already Odisha, Kerala, Assam and Jharkhand have made 28-day home quarantine mandatory.