A Covid-19 positive woman delivered a baby at a hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana Health Minister E. Rajender said on Friday.
This is the first case in Telangana in which a woman tested positive for coronavirus has delivered a child.
The minister told reporters that the doctors at Gandhi Hospital performed the delivery through a cesarean section. Stating that both the woman and baby boy were healthy, the minister termed this as a major achievement by the doctors. He said the newborn would be tested for Covid-19 on Saturday.
Rajender also announced that a 75-year-old man who had tested positive for Covid-19 and was in critical condition had recovered and was discharged from Gandhi Hospital on Friday. Similarly another Covid-19 positive patient who was on dialysis has also recovered and was discharged.
The two were among 34 patients discharged from the hospital on Friday. With this the number of people discharged so far rose to 727.
"Now only 376 patients are undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital," the minister said.
He said 10 new cases were reported on Friday, taking the state's tally to 1,132. No deaths were reported and the death toll remained unchanged at 29.
The minister said a request was made to Centre to include 14 districts, currently in orange zone, into green zone as no new case was reported from these districts for the last 21 days. If accepted, this will take the total number of districts in the green zone to 27.
The state has also urged the Centre to upgrade Suryapet, Nizamabad and Warangal Urban districts from red zone to orange zone.
Rajender said this would leave only Hyderabad and adjoining districts of Ranga Reddy and Medchal in the red zone. He said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao directed health, municipal and other departments to focus on Hyderabad and surrounding urban areas to contain the spread of Covid-19.
He hoped that once 14 more districts included the green zone and three upgraded to orange zone, 80 percent of Telangana would see restoration of all normal activities except mass transport.
( With inputs from IANS )