The Health department has been keeping a close watch on the COVID-19 situation in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, Rangareddy and Medchal, which have reported the maximum number of cases in Telangana. But, now three other districts — Warangal Urban, Karimnagar and Sangareddy — have also come into focus following a sharp spike in cases in the past week.
Between July 29 and August 4, GHMC recorded 3,398 positive while Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri saw 1,285 and 1,019 persons testing positive for coronavirus, respectively.
In this same period, Warangal Urban reported 744 cases and Karimnagar trailed with 610 cases. Sangareddy was inching close to the 500-mark with 494 being diagnosed with the contagious infection.
One of the reasons for the increase in cases detection in these districts is the ramping up of testing. Rapid antigen tests are being conducted at Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres. As more number of people suspected to have COVID-19 undergo tests, more cases are coming to the fore.
Though the number of tests performed in a day, and cumulative number of tests are mentioned in media bulletin issued every day, the break-up of figures as per districts is not mentioned. The data would have been helpful to understand the Test Positivity Rate or the percentage of samples which test positive in each district, thereby indicating the extent of virus spread.
For long, COVID-19 treatment was offered at government hospitals in Hyderabad. However, officials from State Health department said they have started to admit COVID patients in district hospitals, area hospitals, and various government health facilities in other districts too.