E-Paper
Telangana reports 50% drop in Covid-19 cases from May 1
Telangana had recorded 7,430 cases of Covid-19 diseases on May 1, whereas it recorded a total of 3,891 cases on May 18, a top health expert said, attributing the trend to measures taken by the state to curb the spread of the infection and the response of the citizens.
Telangana saw the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases drop by a half in the last 18 days, informed G Srinivas Rao, the state’s director of public health and family welfare on Wednesday.
Telangana had recorded 7,430 cases of Covid-19 diseases on May 1, whereas it recorded a total of 3,891 cases on May 18 (Tuesday), Rao said, attributing the trend to measures taken by the state to curb the spread of the infection and the response of the citizens.
Between March 1 and May 18 Telangana has recorded a total of 2,37,843 cases. Addressing the media at the department of public health along with director of medical education Ramesh Reddy, he said, "Of the number of people who were infected during the second wave of the pandemic, 80% of the people have recovered. The rest 20% of them are undergoing treatment. We recorded a total of 1,378 deaths, which is 0.57% of the total recorded cases”
The rate of positive cases in the first wave stood at 3.78% while the positivity rate during the second wave stands at 5.56%. “The nationwide positive cases in the second wave is 7.92 %. In Telangana, we have seen a drop from 8.6 % on May 1 to 5.56 % now. The death rate in the second wave stands at 0.50 %,” Rao said further.
Countering the information doing the rounds on social media, Rao claimed that there is no dearth of beds in public and private hospitals. He said 22% of the ICU beds and 33% of the oxygen beds in the state are available. Till Tuesday, 491 ICU, 2,582 oxygen and 4,172 general beds were available in public hospitals while private hospitals listed availability of 2,582 ICU, 4,562 oxygen and 11,000 general beds.
Addressing the issue of private hospitals overcharging patients, he appealed to the people to call the helpline 9154170960 in case of any discrepancies. He urged the people to use the free medical services provided by public hospitals.
“We have received complaints against 26 hospitals via the mentioned WhatsApp number. Based on these complaints a private hospital in Madhapur has been stripped off of its COVID-19 treatment centre status while three hospitals in Secunderabad, Nagole, and Basheerbagh have been issued showcause notices,” Rao said.
