Hyderabad, Jul 1 (IANS): Covid-19 cases in Telangana surpassed 16,000 with 945 people testing positive on Tuesday.

For the third consecutive day, the number of cases came down marginally. On Sunday, 975 people had tested positive.

With the new cases, the state's tally rose to 16,339.

Health officials said the state also reported seven deaths during the day, taking the toll to 260.

The number of tests conducted on Monday was 3,457, taking the cumulative figure to 88,563.

As many as 1,712 people recovered during the day, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,294.

A total of 8,785 people are currently under treatment either at hospitals or at their homes.

Greater Hyderabad remained the worst-affected region accounting for 869 of the fresh cases. Rangareddy and Medchal districts bordering Hyderabad reported 29 and 13 cases. The remaining cases were reported from nine districts.

Meanwhile, authorities on Tuesday resumed collection of samples in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits for random testing.

The government had announced 50,000 tests in Greater Hyderabad and surrounding districts, the process started on June 16. The authorities collected 36,000 samples in nine days.

With a huge backlog in laboratories, they paused the process temporarily from June 25.

Health officials said 250 samples each will be collected at Nature Cure Hospital, Ayurvedic Hospital, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and Charminar Nizamia Hospital.