Southern States Continue Reporting High Covid-19 Caseloads

Southern states continued reporting high COVID-19 caseloads on Wednesday, the numbers being close to 25,000, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation with four of the most affected ones from the region–Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.

While the PM reviewed the situation with 10 Chief Ministers, four of these southern states presented him their respective report cards and also made pleas on the finance and health fronts to effectively handle the pandemic. The cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases from the five southern states and union territory of Puducherry stood at 24,704, with Andhra Pradesh topping the list with 9,024 new cases, while 87 more deaths pushed the overall toll to 2,203 in that state.

According to the latest bulletin, 9,113 patients were discharged from hospitals in the state after recovering from the disease. Andhra Pradesh now has 87,597 active COVID-19 cases after 1,54,749 people recovered. Tamil Nadu reported 5,834 fresh COVID cases, taking the tally to 3,08,649, while 118 fatalities pushed the death tollt o 5,159.

Active cases stood at 52,810 with 6,005 discharges from various hospitals and in total 2,50,680 patients have recovered, a health department bulletin said. Chennai's share was 1,11,054 in the state tally of three lakh plus cases. In Karnataka, 6,257 new cases pushed the total infections beyond 1.88 lakh but over one lakh persons have been discharged following recovery, the government said.

The state witnessed 6,257 new positive cases and 86 related fatalities on Tuesday. Total deaths stood at 3,398.

As of August 11 evening, cumulatively 1,88,611 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 3,398 deaths and 1,05,599 discharges, the health department said.

Kerala, which is continuing to witness a spike in COVID-19 infections, Tuesday reported 1417 cases, including 36 health workers, as the toll has climbed to 120 with five deaths.

As many as 1,426 people have recovered from the infection today, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. With positive cases rising in Malappuram, District Collector K Gopalakrishnan decided to impose complete lockdown on Sundays in the district.

Weddings, funerals, medical emergencies and petrol pumps have been exempted from the lockdown, a district administration press release said.

Telangana reported 1,896 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total infection tally to 82,647, while the death toll mounted to 645 with eight more fatalities. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) saw yet another day of dip in cases, with only 338 new infections being recorded, according to a state government bulletin on Tuesday.

The bulletin provided data as of 8 PM on August 10. The districts of Rangareddy (147), Karimnagar (121) and Medchal-Malkajgiri (119), Warangal Urban (95) were at the topin positive cases.

The total number of people who recovered from the infectious disease so far was 59,374, while 22,628 were under treatment. In Puducherry, two more people succumbed to COVID-19 and 276 fresh cases were reported on Tuesday, where the aggregate touched 5,900.

With the two deaths, the toll rose to 91. Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said the overall active cases including 874 patients in home quarantine are 2,277.