Active cases beat recoveries in TS

Patients prefer treatment in private hospitals despite high costs

The recent warning from state health department officials that the next few weeks will be critical with respect to spread of Covid19 cases in Telangana, is appearing to ring true with an increasing number of ‘active’ patients over the past week.

Active cases are individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 and been admitted to hospitals as they require sustained or serious medical attention.

Also included in this category are people placed either under home quarantine with mild or no symptoms, or at government hospitals in isolation and under observation with moderate symptoms, if such individuals suffer from some pre-existing health conditions.

The increase in active cases each day also appears to have coincided with a drop in the number of people being discharged from hospitals or deemed recovered.

The past seven days, starting on July 23, according

to the health department, saw 1,661 recoveries and 11,052 active cases.

July 29 witnessed recoveries dropping to 821 while the active case number rose to 15,640, according to

the data provided in the daily Covid-19 bulletins released by the state government.

While the total Covid-19 cases as on July 23 was 50,826, this figure rose to 60,717 by July 29.

Incidentally, the last three days of the seven-day period, July 27 to July 29, days on which the bulletin also provided occupancy of beds in Covid-19 hospitals, saw the number of patients in government hospitals drop from 2,242 on July 27 to 2,188.

According to the bulletin, the state government has a total of 8,446 Covid-19 beds in its Covid-19-designated hospitals.

The same three-day period saw a rise in the number of in-patients in private hospitals, from

3,032 on July 27 to 3,297 on July 29, indicating that more patients were seeking treatment in private hospitals despite the high costs.

The private hospital bed strength for Covid-19 patients also rose from

4,497 to 5,494 over these three days, according to the bulletins.