Coronavirus / Hyderabad among 16 worst coronavirus-affected districts of India

HYDERABAD: Though Telangana claims to have one of the lowest Covid-19 mortality rates in the country, two districts of Telangana — Hyderabad and Medchal Malakajgiri are among the league of 16 other districts contributing the most to the nation’s mortality rate. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, these two districts and others spread across four States have a high percentage of active cases, daily new cases, low tests per million and high test confirmation percentage.

“Districts that are reporting a higher Covid-19 mortality rate than the national and States’ average are a cause of concern. These include 16 districts in four States viz. Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat; Belagavi, Bengaluru Urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka; Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu; Hyderabad and Medchal Malkajgiri in Telangana,” said the Ministry in a press release on Friday.

To discuss containment and management of Covid-19, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a virtual meeting with district administration officials. The meeting analysed what had led to the high mortality and ways to reduce it. The 16 worst-affected districts have now been told to increase tests per million population and reduce positivity rate. For Telangana, this translates to 15,899 tests per million and test positivity rate of 13.13 per cent.