HYDERABAD: Telangana has emerged as the sixth largest contributor to Covid-19 cases in the country if statistics from the last 10 days are analysed. The State’s caseload from June 15 to 23 was 4,579 cases, which make it the six highest contributor to total Coronavirus cases in the country, joining the likes of Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. It has managed to do so with just 18,000 tests, which is still far lesser than desired.
With 4,579 cases, it is behind only Maharashtra (31,052 cases), Delhi (25,420), Tamil Nadu (19,942), Uttar Pradesh (5,278) and Gujarat (4,839). Other states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have a higher caseload, but their contribution to cases has been lower, indicating a more flattened spread of cases unlike in Telangana which has been witnessing a rising spread of the virus. For instance, in the last three days, Telangana has seen upward of more than 600 cases every single day, contrary to a week ago on June 14 when only 200 odd cases were recorded.
However, states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are seeing a persistently flattened rise in cases of around 400 to 300 cases. Thus our curve is nowhere close to flattening, while curves of states with higher caseloads are flattened. While experts note that a high number of cases seen in isolation should not worry us, it is seeing these cases in relation to the tests done is what is problematic.
States like Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, which contributed the highest to a total caseload of the country in last 10 days, are testing nearly 15,000 individuals daily. While Maharashtra tested 1.45 lakh people, Delhi 1.11 lakh, Tamil Nadu 2.33 lakh, U.P. 1.20 lakh, Gujarat 45,761, Telangana tested just 18,000 people
The testing trend in Telangana, which is the sixth worst-hit state in the last 10 days, shows that if more tests are conducted, the cases may spike even further. Even West Bengal, which contributed only 3,641 cases in that time frame, had tested 86,000 people.
On June 23, Karnataka had done 10,000 tests to detect 322 cases and Andhra Pradesh 20,000 tests to detect 462 cases. Telangana, on the other hand, did only 3,006 tests to detect 879 cases, which begs the thought that if tests are more widespread, more cases will be unearthed.