Covid cases almost double overnight; Telangana state reports 1,052

Hyderabad: The State saw a spike in Covid cases which exceeded from 490 on Monday to 1,052 on January 4. According to the State Public Health department bulletin, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation reported more than 650 cases.

With the Omicron variant spreading fast, 10 cases were detected at the Hyderabad International Airport. Five positive cases were found in passengers returning from 'at-risk' countries; five cases were found during the random sampling from other than the at-risk countries.

Till now 94 Omicron cases were detected in the State. So far 37 patients recovered from the variant. A major surge was seen in positive Covid infection with the State reporting 1,052 cases (in 24 hours upto 9 pm) on Tuesday, almost a 90 per cent jump from previous day's tally.

Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao said in a briefing its "likely" that the increase in cases is higher than reported.

In the last 24 hours, the department counted more than 500 cases with the total expected to top 1,000 again when the daily figures are reported on Tuesday, a senior official said.

The State also reported two Covid deaths, taking the overall number of fatalities to 4,033. A total of 116 positive cases were reported in Medchal-Malkajgiri; there were 109 infections in Ranga Reddy district. On Monday, Medchal-Malkajgiri had 48 positive infections, while RR district reported 55.

The total number of positive cases so far in Telangana reached 684,023, while the active cases on Tuesday were 4,858.

The department conducted 42,991 Covid tests; results of 5,481 samples are awaited. A total of 240 individuals recovered (rate 98.70%) on Tuesday, the bulletin showed. An acceleration is likely to bring forward strains on the health system.