The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has evoked a range of emotions in people, from helplessness and confusion to frustration and rage. At their wits’ end, many of them rhetorically ask, ‘when will the pandemic end?’. Senior officials in the Health department claim that COVID is now beyond its peak and cases are set to decline by month-end.
In case of other districts, officials estimated that the cases will decline will start by end of September. However, this relief might not last for long as experts have predicted a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
July high
Till mid-July, a major chunk of the cases detected in the State were from GHMC. Some days, up to 80% of cases in a day were from the municipal limits. Special attention was given to the State capital and localities surrounding it.
Over 1,000 cases a day were reported in GHMC till July 8. It dropped to below 1,000 on July 9 and started to gradually decline there on. In the past seven days, between 250 to 550 cases a day were recorded in the municipal limits. On Friday, only 21% of the total 2,256 cases were from the municipality. The rest were from other districts.
“After hitting the peak, number of cases stabilise and will decline in coming days. Now, the cases in GHMC have stabilised. According to our estimation, cases will decline in GHMC by end of August. Now cases are surging in other districts. That is the nature of the virus. It will first hit densely populated cities, and then spread to two tier cities and thereafter in villages. But severity of cases in other districts might not be the same as witnessed in GHMC,” Director of Public Health, G. Srinivasa Rao said.
Low testing
Earlier, fewer cases in the State was attributed to low testing. Asked if number of tests to detect coronavirus conducted in GHMC limits is the same now as it was in early July, Dr Rao said the tests have increased by five to six times.
“We are conducting 20,000 to 23,000 tests a day. Of those, around 60% tests are conducted in GHMC. Testing is being ramped up in other districts too. We are ready to conduct 40,000 tests per day,” the senior health official said.
About a possible second wave, the Director of Public Health said they are prepared for the worst.
He said the time when cases subside will be used to further bolster the infrastructure and resources.However, people were urged to continue maintaining precautions such as wearing masks and maintaining distance as negligence might lead to a spike in cases again.
