T’gana, Andhra see sharp spikes in cases

The twin Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been witnessing a steep rise in the number of positive cases only after March 26, when the details about

The twin Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been witnessing a steep rise in the number of positive cases only after March 26, when the details about large scale congregation of people at Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in New Delhi came to light.

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Both the states have accounted for nearly 15 deaths; 11 in Telangana and the rest in Andhra, and 700 positive cases for Covid-19 till now. Telangana reported 13 cases, its first double figure tally, on March 18, when as many as eight Indonesians, who came to Karimnagar town after attending the Tablighi Jamaat meeting, tested positive.

Andhra Pradesh reported 11 cases, its first double digit tally, on March 26, when the state government began tracking Jamaat returnees and admitting them to hospitals.

According to the bulletins issued by the Telangana health department, there were only five cases of locals who had come from countries like Dubai, London, Switzerland and the US and tested positive. The number went up to 13 on March 18, when the Indonesians tested positive.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters on Monday night that out of the total number of positive cases recorded so far, only 50 cases pertained to locals, including 30 foreign-returnees and the remaining 20 of their family members. Of these 50, 35 people had been discharged and the remaining, too, will be discharged shortly, he said.

However, KCR said, the state witnessed huge number of cases after the Nizamuddin incident. As many as 314 people tested positive in this second phase, after March 26, apart from the deaths of 11 people. “Of these 314 people, 308 are still undergoing treatment and the remaining six have been discharged,” he said.

The chief minister said as many as 1089 people who had attended the Nizamuddin meeting had been identified so far and another 30-35 were in quarantine in Delhi. Besides, another 265 people, including 93 family members of these Markaz returnees, were also traced and tested. “It was found that over 1,000 of them are not infected. The results of the remaining, too, will be out in a couple of days,” he said.

Besides, the authorities were also on the lookout for another 3,017 persons who might be indirectly connected with these cases are being traced, he said.

Andhra Pradesh, too, witnessed a similar trend. After reporting he first double digit number of 11 Covid-19 positive cases on March 26, the state crossed the three-figure mark within six days on April 1, when it reported 113 cases. By Monday night, the number of cases were at 309, including five discharged patients.

At a high-level review meeting held by Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday afternoon, the health department officials disclosed that out of 304 active Covid-19 patients taking treatment in hospitals, 280 patients had been associated with the Tablighi Jamaat meeting and their primary contacts.

Out of 1085 persons who were identified to have attended Jamaat meeting, tests were conducted on 997 patients till now and 194 of them turned out to be positive. “Another 2,400 people were identified to have come in contact with them, including their family members, relatives, friends and others who travelled with them from Delhi to Andhra Pradesh. Of them, 84 persons tested positive,” the officials told the chief minister.

Among others, tests were conducted on 205 people who came from foreign countries. Of them, 11 tested positive. Among another 120 persons who came in contact with these foreign returnees, six tested positive. As many as 134 locals got themselves admitted with symptoms of cold, cough and fever; of them, seven tested positive, the officials said.