Surge in Covid-19 cases in Telangana worrisome

It is appalling to read about the growing number of Covid-19 positive cases in Telangana, with the authorities treating the issue in a casual way. While comparing to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, situation is scary in Telangana. Aggressive testing and tracing, and timely treatment — the global strategy to fight Covid-19 has remained the backbone of Andhra's battle against the pandemic.

The AP government has ramped up its health infrastructure and decentralised it and designated private hospitals as Covid-19 hospitals for severe cases, and others as Covid Care Centres for those with mild symptoms.

The State is also using its existing village volunteer network for community surveillance and to implement welfare programmes. As a result, the testing rate in Andhra is at 12,961 per million — above the national rate of 5,107 per million — and its mortality rate of 1.19 per cent is lower than the national average of 3.22 per cent. However, AP has one significant advantage over Telangana — the absence of a cluster zone like Hyderabad, which alone is responsible for 71 per cent of the State's cases and 86 per cent of its deaths. It is high time the Telangana government did something concrete to contain the pandemic.

Hasina Sayed, Old Malakpet, Hyderabad