Hyderabad: After months of being the most coronavirus (Covid-19) affected place in Telangana, Hyderabad is finally witnessing a drop in the daily number of cases. Unlike earlier, only about 30% of fresh cases (everyday) are being reported from the capital city, while other districts in the state are now witnessing higher numbers. The virus now seems to have spread across Telangana, going by the daily bulletins that are released by the state government.
On Tuesday (11 July), out of the total 1,896 new Covid-19 cases that were reported, only 338 were from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The remaining of cases were spread across the remaining 32 districts of Telangana, with Rangareddy (146), Sangareddy (49), Warangal Urban (95), Karimnagar (121), Medchal-Malkajgiri (119) and Nalgonda (54), reporting higher cases than the rest.
It may be noted that the daily number of cases reported on 10 August (1,256) were significantly lower in comparison with the previous week, even as Telangana was reporting about 2,000 cases a day. However, on an average, the number of cases that are being reported from the GHMC areas still stand at about 20-30%. For example, out of the 1,982 new cases that were reported on 9 July, only 463 were from the city, which has about 1 crore of Telangana’s population.
Similarly, on 8 August, when Telangana registered its highest daily spike in cases at 2,256, the number of new cases in the GHMC area were 464. The decrease in daily numbers has brought some relief to both citizens and the authorities, even though the trouble now is to contain the virus’s spread in other districts. A month earlier, the GHMC area was reporting at least 50% or more cases out of the daily total.
For example, on 11 July, out of the total 1,178 new cases that were reported, 736 were from the GHMC alone. According to data from the state’s Public Health department, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Telangana now stands at 80,751. Out of the total 80,751 cases, 57,586 people have recovered, while 22,528 others are currently undergoing treatment. So far, 637 people have also died due to Covid-19 in Telangana.
When asked about the plateauing of cases in Hyderabad, Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao, director, Public Health, told a reporter at a press conference on 8 August that this was the “nature of the virus”.
“There is good news for the GHMC, as in the last 10 days, the deduction in number of cases has come down. The government has taken up measures to contain the virus in other district headquarters of erstwhile and new district. This is the nature of the virus; first it will affect populated cities and then move to small towns. As far as testing is concerned, we have 1,100 centres per day, and we are also distributing home isolation kits,” Dr. Rao stated last week.
The writer is a Hyderabad-based journalist who has previously worked for The New Indian Express, The Hindu and Mint.