Over 6,000 COVID-19 patients in home isolation in Telangana;

govt to ramp up testing, facilities: Official

Hyderabad,Jul 4 () More than 6,000 COVID-19 patients are presently being treated in home isolation in Telangana and the state government is ramping up testing and thefacilities to deal with the pandemic, a senior Health official said on Saturday.

"After Delhi, the highest number of positive cases in home isolation are in Telangana. While 12,000 cases have been kept in home isolation for the last one month, at present 6,552 cases are in home isolation," state Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao told reporters here.

Those in home isolation are provided guidance through tele-medicine, video-counselling.

Thepatients are shifted to hospitals in emergencies, he said.

The number of active cases in the state as on Friday was 9,984.

Observing that movement of people increased after the process of unlock began leading to a rise in cases, he said 13,534 cases were reported in June alone.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in Telangana as on Saturday stood at 20,462.

Saying that the number of cases increased in tune with the mobility of people, Rao asserted the virus is only a mild disease for the majority of people.

More than 90 per cent of the 280 deaths reported so far were due to co-morbid conditions and among older people, he said.

The official said 6,500 tests per day can be conducted at present and that five more labs are going to start soon.

Further, TrueNat, CBNAAT tests would also be conducted in districts.

State Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy said the government has given notices to some private labs where inaccuracies have been found.

Noting that data provided by some labs was abnormal, he said an expert committee would evaluate the matter.

Saying that a lot of negative posts have been spread on the state-run Gandhi hospital, he said it is also important to see how many patients have been cured.

Rao said the expert committee found discrepancies, related to quality control, number of tests done and high positivity rate, in 13 private labs.

He said the health department would not hesitate to take stringent action if the private labs failed to rectify the shortcomings.

Talking about allegations and doubts raised in some quarters that data is not being shared transparently, Rao said the Health department or the state government never hid any numbers and that it does not have to hide any data.

He disapproved of posts circulated on social media without verifying facts.

He also said the mortality rate is 1.7 per cent and that more than 95 per cent of total cases have recovered. SJRSS