Telangana records biggest single-day spurt of corona cases

Hyderabad: On a day when Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao warned people to be prepared for increasing cases of Covid-19 in the state over the next couple of months or so, the health department announced that coronavirus infections saw one of its greatest single-day spikes on Wednesday with 107 new cases being reported from Telangana.

Six more deaths were also reported on Wednesday taking the total deaths from the disease that refuses to be controlled in the state, to 63.

Though the Telangana health department in its daily Covid-19 bulletin made many changes on Wednesday to how data was presented, the bottom line was that the state has now rushed past in a tearing hurry, with Wednesday’s 107 fresh cases, the 2,098 mark in the total number of Covid-19 cases. As on Wednesday night at 10 pm, the total Covid-19 cases in Telangana stood at 2,098.

In yet another indication of a data management practice or style that raises questions than answers — with no accompanying explanations for change in data presentation style — the Covid-19 bulletin introduced a new category of patients — locals — into the mix along with a hitherto unknown Saudi Arabia “deportees” category giving their numbers.

It may be recalled that the TS health department and the office of the director of health have been at the receiving end of some tough talk by the Telangana High Court during the past few days on data submission among other issues.

With respect to the “deportees”, the health department said the Government of India airlifted 458 deportees from Saudi Arabia. These deportees have been quarantined in government quarantine centres in the state. 

Till date 82 deportees have tested positive for Covid-19 and are being treated.

The bulletin also said the large number of migrants returning from various other states are being home quarantined and monitored by the district authorities. Symptomatic migrants are being tested and a majority of the migrants are arriving from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar etc.

Till date, 154 migrants have tested positive for covid-19 and are being treated.