Hyderabad, Feb 17 (IANS): Telangana logged 148 new Covid cases and one death during the last 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday.

The fresh cases pushed the state's tally to 2,96,950 while the deaths rose to 1,620.The fatality rate remained 0.54 per cent against the national average of 1.4 per cent.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, while 44.96 per cent of the deaths occurred due to Covid, 55.04 per cent had co-morbidities.

Of the total 33 districts, no cases were registered in five districts during the last 24 hours.

Greater Hyderabad saw maximum number of cases at 26, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (11), Rangareddy (10) and Karimnagar (10). Remaining districts reported new cases in single digits.

A total of 150 people recovered from the virus during the period, taking the cumulative numbers to 2,93,690. The state's Covid recovery rate moved up to 98.90 per cent against the national average of 1.4 per cent.

The number of active cases dropped to 1,640 including 641 who are in home/institutional isolation. During the last 24 hours 24,695 samples were tested - 20,588 in government labs and 4,107 in private labs.

With this the cumulative number of tests conducted in the state rose to 83,60,950. Tests per million population climbed to 2,24,635.

Over 92 per cent of the beds in hospitals treating Covid cases remained vacant. As many as 8,206 beds out of 8,577 beds in 62 government hospitals were vacant. Similarly, in 216 private hospitals 7,015 out of 7,643 beds were vacant.