By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, Apr 27 (IANS): Eleven out of 33 districts of Telangana have become free from Covid-19.
While three districts have not reported a single positive case, in the remaining eight others, all the infected persons have recovered and been discharged from hospital.
Warangal Rural, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri and Wanaparthy districts have not reported a single positive case since the coronavirus outbreak.
Narayanpet and Mancherial districts reported a case each and both succumbed to Covid-19. After that, these districts reported no fresh case. Mahabubabad and Siddipet districts had one case each and both have recovered and discharged from hospital.
Similarly, Mulugu and Nagarkurnool have also become Covid-19 free as all the four persons who had tested positive in these districts have recovered. All four patients in Bhadradri have also been discharged, making the district free from the dreaded virus.
An official of the Health Department said a few more districts would become Covid-19 free next week. One person each is under treatment in Peddapally and Jagtiyal district.
Medak has just two active cases. Ten other districts have positive cases in the single digits.
Once these districts become totally free of Covid-19 cases, the authorities will be fully concentrating on eight districts which account for most of 660 active cases.
Out of 1,001 cases reported till Sunday, Greater Hyderabad tops the list with 540 cases. It also accounts for 18 out of 25 fatalities in the state. Suryapet has the second highest number of cases (83). Nizamabad is at number three with 61 cases.
In 2014 when Telangana achieved statehood. it had 10 districts. Later, they were split into small districts for administrative convenience, taking the total number of 33. Officials said the small size of the districts helped the district administration in achieving better results in controlling the spread of the virus through effective surveillance.
Sangareddy on Sunday became the 11th district to be free from Covid-19. The district reported no case after April 14 and all the seven patients have recovered. Finance Minister Harish Rao credited this achievement to the team work by health, police, sanitation, district administration and ASHA workers. "This became possible because of the hardwork of officials and people's cooperation. We should not lower our guard and continue strict implementation of lockdown to contain the virus," he told the district officials.
Authorities in the districts which have not reported a single case are also strictly enforcing the lockdown to maintain the record of zero cases.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, out of 13 districts, only Vizianagaram has not recorded a single case. Srikakulam is also relatively safe with only four cases. Visakhapatnam has reported 22 cases so far. North coastal Andhra, comprising these three districts, has the least prevalence rate with 26 cases. Barring, seven, all patients have been discharged.
As of Monday, Andhra had reported 1,177 Covid-19 cases. With 675 cases, south coastal Andhra is the worst affected among the three regions of the state. Rayalaseema has reported 458 cases with Kurnool district topping the list with 292 cases.