COVID-19: With over 3 lakh cases in just 80 days, second wave hit Telangana hard

HYDERABAD: How bad was the “second wave” of Covid-19 in Telangana? While the State recorded 3.08 lakh cases in a period of 13 months — between March 2, 2020, and March 31, 2021 — an almost equal number of cases were recorded in just the last two-and-a-half months. Between April 1 and June 19 this year, Telangana recorded as many as 3.03 lakh cases, in a span of just 80 days.This clearly indicates the high-intensity of infection spread and the scale of burden it had on the public health infrastructure in the State. 

In fact, of all the Covid-19 cases recorded in Telangana till date, 49.56 per cent were recorded in the last two-and-a-half months. Also, the second wave of Covid-19 claimed the lives of 1,855 people in Telangana, as against the 1,701 deaths in the preceding one year, which further indicates that the second wave was deadlier too. 

In short, 52 per cent of all officially recorded deaths due to Covid-19 in the State were during the last two-and-a-half months. In terms of recoveries, the first wave saw 3,01,564 people recover until March 31, 2021, taking the recovery rate to 97.66 per cent. In the past two-and-a-half months, considered as the second wave period, 2,88,508 recoveries were recorded, pegging the recovery rate at 95 per cent.

Meanwhile, even though the second wave was more intense in Telangana, the State clearly managed to ramped up its testing. Across the second wave, nearly 72,26,879 tests were conducted between April 1 to June 19 — with an average of 90,000 tests per day. This is a drastic improvement from before, when on an average only 28,000 tests were conducted in a day.