TS reports 1,593 new Covid cases, toll rises to 463

There has been no let-up in the rising Covid-19 cases in the state with

1,593 fresh cases reported on Sunday. Eight more people have been declared dead, taking the toll to 463 as on 8 pm on Saturday. The total number of

Covid-19 cases has been put at 54,059.

Even as GHMC area continued to register the most cases per day with

641, the rest of the state witnessed yet another surge with 952 cases reported from the districts. Warangal Urban district is fast emerging as one more hotspot with

131 new cases, while Ranga Reddy district, that envelops Hyderabad city, recorded 171 fresh infections.

The past fortnight has witnessed urbanised areas in the districts, in addition to rural areas, contributing more to the increasing Covid-19 cases.

Of the total 17,081 beds that the government says it has for accommodating

Covid-19 patients, those available for occupancy, as on Saturday 8 pm, fell to 14, 947 from 15,216 on Friday evening, indicating that more patients may now be requiring hospitalisation.

In yet another indication of possible the severity of Coronavirus infections among the fresh cases being reported over the past few days, the health department said

1,190 beds with oxygen supply, and 317 ICU beds were occupied as on Saturday evening. On Friday, the number of people needing supplementary oxygen was 620 while the number of patients in ICUs was 235.

Interestingly, the bulletin which till Friday reported that the state had 471 ventilators in government Covid-19 hospitals, on Sunday reported a dramatic increase saying

1,117 beds were available with ventilators at these hospitals.

The data released on Sunday morning was on

Covid-19 cases between 5 pm on Friday and 8 pm on Saturday.

The health department, which used to release the bulletin late in the evening every day, had announced on Saturday night that it was not releasing the bulletin on Saturday, and that it would issue the bulletin in a revised format on Sunday morning.