It has been six months since the first COVID-19 case was detected in Telangana on March 2. A total of 14.23 lakh tests have been performed and 1,27,697 cases recorded in this duration.
Of those 1.27 lakh cases, a staggering 62,911 positives were recorded in August alone, which makes for 49.2% of the tally. The major chunk of tests — 14,23,846 or 67.8% of the total tests, to be precise, were conducted last month. The results showed 69% were asymptomatic and 31% symptomatic.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the State government has been heavily criticised for low testing in the State. It was scaled up from June 15, and thus, more cases began to be identifies, leading to a sharp increase in the total. The surge was also attributed to relaxations in lockdown norms, leading to increased movement of people.
ADVERTISEMENT
While RT-PCR tests were increased from June 15, Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) were employed from July 8.
By the end of June, a maximum of 4,000 tests a day were being performed. The numbers continued to increase in July with over 21,000 swab samples being tested per day. The numbers dramatically increased in August. Currently, around 60,000 tests are conducted on a daily basis.