HYDERABAD: For the first time in 127 days, the number of active cases in Telangana crossed the 6,000 mark. The number of active cases are at 6,168, the highest since August 26 last year when the active caseload was at 6,246. The rise in active cases has been so dramatic that 3,645 of these 6,168 cases were reported in the last five days, which indicates the exponential rise in infections.
Interestingly, it was on December 27 the state’s active cases were at a six-month low of 3,417 cases. Since then the state has been witnessing a steady rise in Covid cases. This dramatic rise, however, could be both good and bad news. If this rise is caused by Omicron, then hospitalisations may not be as explosive as the rise in cases. But the bad news is that some of these cases may be of Delta variant, in which case it is likely lead to challenges in treatment.
“What we are seeing now is an explosion of cases and this will reflect in the number of hospitalisations after two weeks. The mortality will increase two weeks after that. So by no means, this wave will be a mild one,” explained Dr. MSS Mukharjee, Senior Interventional Cardiologist, Medicover Hospital.
He stated that with rising cases, a percentage of patients will land in hospitals and the difficulty would be to choose a course of treatment. “If it is Omicron, OP visits will dramatically increase and not all hospitals have the infrastructure in place to deal with such a situation. If there are many Omicron cases, therapies like monoclonal antibody cocktail will not be effective against the same, adding to challenges in treatment,” he said.