Covid cases drop in Chittoor district

Tirupati: Covid positive cases dipped to 24 on Monday the lowest in almost 46 days. Though the downward trend in Covid positivity rate could be seen across the country on the whole, the way the cases were brought down in Chittoor district became a surprise to many. There was a huge criticism on the district administration that it has deliberately reduced the number of tests only to show less number of positive cases and the official figures do not represent the actual situation.

Surprisingly, the positive cases started increasing at a rapid speed in the second week of January this year and from 150 cases on January 6 they plunged to 1,027 by January 13 and to 2,338 cases by January 19. At that time around 4,000 tests were conducted daily in the district and one out of every two persons who underwent RT-PCR tests were found positive.

From then onwards, the positive cases started receding as a ceiling was imposed on the tests following which each PHC has to conduct not more than 10 tests daily and 50-60 tests in Ruia hospital. SVIMS hospital was the only exception to this as it used to conduct more than 200 tests daily. As a result, the cases witnessed a fall of 753 on a single day on January 20 to reach 1,585 from the previous day and fell further to 685 by January 23 and to 228 by January 31.

In the last five days, the cases have not crossed 100 mark. It was learnt that even there was no transparency in showing Covid deaths. There were many fever cases in Tirupati as well as in the rest of the district. Several patients were visiting private hospitals with fever, cold & cough and body pains. The doctors were prescribing several lab tests for them saying that Covid tests are not being conducted by the government for such cases.

Meanwhile, several people were relying on Covid self-tests and the sales of self-kits have reached an all-time high in January. A pharmacist said that each person used to buy 5-10 kits for their family members. The sales of these kits are even continuing this month also though in slightly reduced numbers.

A doctor commented that there was no point in denying tests for those with symptoms. At least, after patients know that they are positive, they may not spread it to others by isolating themselves. It was said that there was under-reporting of Covid deaths also.

Irrespective of actual deaths, the state bulletin shows only one death each day. Out of 24 cases on Monday, Tirupati urban has reported eight cases while there was only one case in the rural segment. The active cases also reached below 500 from 2,657 on February 1.