Monday, May 23, 2022

Second Covid wave far more intense in Telangana

By M. Sai Gopal

Published: Updated On - 12:52 AM, Mon - 5 April 21

One year down the line, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus (or a new modified strain) is quite contrasting, as new infections are being reported evenly from across the State. The trend could be an indication that the community and healthcare infrastructure in Telangana might be under stress for a prolonged period due to new Covid infections

Hyderabad: The second-wave of Covid infections appears to be far more intense than last year when the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was quite steady across Telangana. By the month of April, the public and private healthcare machinery in the State are facing a disease burden of Covid infections that was witnessed way back in July of last year.

The trend could be an indication that the community and healthcare infrastructure in Telangana might be under stress for a prolonged period due to new Covid infections. As a result of the surge in new infections during the ongoing second wave, especially in areas under GHMC and other urban centres in Telangana, going by reports, private hospitals have already started to struggle to allocate beds for Covid positive patients needing inpatient care.

The first Covid infection in Telangana was reported on March 2, 2020 and for the next few months, i.e. between March and May, the daily number of new infections remained under the 100 mark.

For the first time on June 3, 2020, Telangana witnessed over 100 cases with the Department of Public Health (DPH) reporting 129 new Covid infections and nine deaths in a single day. On the same day, the daily new Covid infections in Hyderabad were 108 while only 21 positive cases were reported in districts.

One year down the line, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus (or a new modified strain) is quite contrasting, as new infections are being reported evenly from across the State. While Hyderabad continues to have a large disease burden, it is the tier -II and tier-III cities, which are witnessing a steady rise of new infections.

Outskirts of Hyderabad including Ranga Reddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and other smaller cities such as Nizamabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nirmal and Sangareddy now pose a challenge for the containment strategies of the public health officials. Quite consistently, these smaller cities have been reporting anywhere between 50 and 100 new Covid infections on a daily basis for the past fortnight in the State.

On Saturday, a total of 1,321 new Covid infections were reported in the State while a similar situation was prevalent in July 2, 2020 when the daily new infections was 1,213 with 998 cases from Hyderabad, 48 from Ranga Reddy and 54 from Medchal-Malkajgiri districts. The statistics clearly indicate that by April, the public and private healthcare machinery in Telangana is witnessing the same wave of infections that it witnessed in last July.

Covid last year in TS:

April 1, 2020: 12 positive cases and 1 dead;
April 4, 2020: 43 positive cases and no deaths
April 10, 2020: 16 positive cases and no deaths
April 30, 2020: 22 positive cases and no deaths
May 1, 2020: 6 positive cases and no deaths
May 4, 2020: 3 positive cases and no deaths
May 15, 2020: 40 positive cases; Hyderabad 33 cases
May 25, 2020: 66 positive cases; Hyderabad 31 cases; deaths 3
June 2, 2020: 99 positive cases; Hyderabad 70 cases
June 30, 2020: 945 positive cases; Hyderabad 869
July 2, 2020: 1213 positive cases, Hyderabad 998 cases
July 15, 2020: 1597 positive cases, Hyderabad 796 cases

Covid 2021:
March 1, 2021: 163 positive cases and 1 dead; Hyderabad 27
March 9, 2021: 186 positive cases and 2 dead ; Hyderabad 34
March 20, 2021: 392 positive cases and 3 dead; Hyderabad 81
March 30, 2021: 684 positive cases and 3 dead; Hyderabad 184
April 1, 2021: 965 positive cases and dead 5; Hyderabad 254
April 4, 2021: 1321 positive cases and dead 5; Hyderabad 320