HYDERABAD: An analysis of the number of cases reported in June vs August shows how the COVID-19 progression had a complete turnaround in Telangana. In June, 82 per cent of the 13,508 coronavirus cases came from the GHMC limits but in August it dropped to just 21 percent.
An analysis of the data by Express shows that in August, as many as 26,49,855 cases have been reported of which GHMC contributed 10,508 cases. This constitutes about 21 per cent of the cases. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in June. In June, 13,508 cases of COVID-19 were recorded, of which 11,080 were from GHMC limits which makes up 82 per cent of the cases.
While on the whole the cases may have dropped marginally in the GHMC limits between the two months, the contribution it is making to overall caseload has changed. It must be recalled that when COVID-19 crisis hit Telangana in March, when the State recorded its first case, and gripped the capital city in April, May and June, the exponential rise in number of cases was only in the GHMC limits.
However, as lockdown norms and restrictions on the movement of people gradually began easing in June, the number COVID-19 cases started increasing drastically in areas outside the GHMC limits, in the rural areas and small municipalities.
The sharpest rise has been in districts like Jagtial where across June, July and August the cases shot up from 11 to 224 to 1,301 followed by Bhadradri Kothagudem (22 to 278 to 1,139), Nalgonda (60 to 343 to 1,673) and Nizamabad (23 to 635 to 2,084).
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday revealed that Telangana has the fifth lowest death rate in COVID-19 patients in the country. The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of the State stands at 0.7 per cent, which is lowest after Assam (0.27 per cent), Kerala (0.39 per cent), Bihar (0.42 per cent) and Odisha (0.51 per cent).
The country's CFR stands at 1.83 per cent.While the COVID death rate is low in Telangana, the State needs to improve its recovery rate. According to the Union Health Ministry data, the State does not figure in the list of top-10 states and UTs with higher recovery rate than the national average.
Health Minister Eatala Rajender met representatives from the Telangana Medical Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Thursday, and stated that apart from the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), beds would also be reserved for the treatment of medical personnel and their families at the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) and Gandhi Hospital.
Telangana recorded 2,795 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in the State to 1,14,483. Over 60,386 samples were tested on the day. The State also recorded eight more COVID deaths, taking the toll to 788. However, 872 people recovered the disease