Hyderabad: The situation of Covid-19 pandemic in Telangana is critical and reflects the inability of the public to learn from past mistakes and history. The Covid pandemic has a parallel with the Spanish flu of 1918, as people during that time and now in 2021 learned nothing from their previous experience.
‘During the first Covid “We managed to control infections through obstructions, but in the second wave, indifference and virus mutations made it difficult to limit the spread of the virus,” senior health officials said on Saturday.
‘There are many cases in our history from which we can draw lessons. This is always the second wave of a pandemic, which is far more deadly than the first. Take the example of the Spanish flu of 1918. The first wave of Spanish flu started in March and claimed at least 30 to 50 lakh lives. However, people at that time did not learn or understand the first wave, as the second wave hit them hard in the later half of that year. In the second wave, between 2 and 7 million people died, ”laments the director of public health (DPH), Dr G Srinivasa Rao.
Superspreader event at the Maha-TS border
Here is an example of a superspreader event and how fast the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is spreading in Telangana.
On March 24, about 20 people from Maharashtra came to the nearby district in Telangana to attend a local festival. They chatted with about 30 Telangana residents and celebrated and later returned.
On April 4, after developing symptoms, five people from the district were tested here Covid at a local PHC and tested all positive. The district observation team came into operation and by April 6, that is, within 12 days, the small festival led to 433 Covid positive cases. According to DPH, there were numerous such super-spreaders that fueled the continuing increase in infections.
Positivity rate
Telangana saw within a short period of two weeks that a significant increase in the positivity rate of Covid infections. On April 1, the positivity rate, that is, the percentage of people who tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 out of the total number of people tested, was 1.63 percent. By April 15, the positivity rate had literally doubled to 2.98 or 3 percent. Senior health officials point out that a high positivity rate implies the severity of the ongoing second wave Covid pandemic.
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Source: Telangana Today