People of Telangana have lived through eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic and there might be more to come. In the 244 days since March 2, when the first case was detected in the State, over 2.4 lakh people have been infected so far and the virus has claimed 1,341 lives. However, of late, people seem to have become relaxed about precautions without realising that the challenges are far from over.
Eight months into the pandemic, Health department officials are estimating another surge in cases as a large number of people stepped out of home for Bathukamma and Dasara festivals. The festival gatherings was the centre of discussions during a review meeting held by Health Minister Eatala Rajender with COVID-19 Expert Committee on Saturday. In fact, foreseeing the possibility of a surge, officials had earlier urged people not to participate in large scale gatherings, and to restrict celebrations only to close family members.
Besides, since any virus finds cold temperatures favourable, officials opined that COVID’s virulence might increase in the winter.
However, these two are not the sole reasons for estimated surge. The recent floods in Hyderabad and large gatherings during election campaigning could also contribute to the possibility. During the spell of heavy rain last month, sewage water entered several homes, while silt and garbage covered streets. With that distress and grief over loss of life and property, COVID fear was relegated to second position; safety was the prime concern of the people.
Saturday was not the first time that the possibility of spike in COVID-19 cases in Telangana was discussed. In the past week, apprehensions of a surge were discussed in meetings by officials of the Health department, Panchayat Raj department, and Women and Child Welfare department.
The second wave of the pandemic is sweeping through European nations and surge is also witnessed in the USA. In India, spike has been observed in Delhi and Kerala. These aspects, apart from bed strength, oxygen availability and details regarding other infrastructural capacity, was discussed at the meeting.
Testing and deaths
Between March 2 and October 31, a total of 43,23,666 samples have been tested, leading to the detection of 2,40,048 positive cases. The government had come under sharp criticism for low testing until mid-June, after which the number of tests were increased from a maximum of 4,000 a day in June to around 60,000 daily towards August-end. By the end of October, around 40,000 people were being examined.
Of the total cases, 18,241 are active while 2,20,466 have recovered and 1,341 patients have died. One of the important observations is regarding the drop in the number of daily COVID deaths. While eight to 10 deaths were reported till September-end, it gradually dropped to four to six deaths per day. Telangana High Court on October 12 said the death statistics furnished by the Public Health department were not trustworthy.
Senior officials of Health department insist the deaths are not under-reported. Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy said that with better understanding of the infectious disease and drugs such as steroids and heparin, they have been able to bring down the death rate. He remarked earlier people underwent testing only when symptomatic. “Precious time was lost and the disease progressed. Now, we are reaching out to people and identifying cases in early stages. Treatment starts even when a person is asymptomatic which avoids disease progression,” he said.
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