18% of Telangana's health care workers COVID positive

Hyderabad: Eighteen per cent of Telangana's health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19, the highest in the country, according to the Union health ministry. Telangana is followed by Maharashtra with 16 per cent and Delhi with 14 per cent.

“We track the health of paramedics, nurses, and doctors. They are a precious resource and there is a need to protect our health care workers against infection. In Telangana, the positivity rate among health care workers is 18 per cent, while it is 16 per cent in Maharashtra, 14 per cent in Delhi, 13 per cent in Karnataka, 12 per cent in Puducherry, and 11 per cent in Punjab. These are the states where positivity rate among health care workers is the highest,” said the secretary of Union health ministry, Rajesh Bhushan.

He further said that the Union government has informed the concerned state governments about the issue and also highlighted the problem of hospital infections. “We must find out how the health care workers are getting infected. Is it at the hospital? There is a special protocol on hospital infection and control. We are looking at whether the protocol is followed at the hospitals,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry said that five states account for 62 per cent of the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country. Maharashtra accounts for 24.77 per cent while Andhra Pradesh accounts for 12.64 per cent with 1,03,701 cases.

Also, only five states account for total COVID-19 deaths. Maharashtra tops the list with 37.39 per cent deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11.6 per cent, Karnataka 8.83 per cent, Delhi 6.65 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh 6.12 per cent.

COVID-19 recoveries in Telangana crossed the one lakh-mark on 2 September, according to the state’s official health bulletin. With 2,611 recoveries reported on the day, the total number of COVID-recovered patients rose to 1,00,013. The state also reported 2,817 new positive cases on Wednesday, taking the overall tally to 1,33,406.

Ten new deaths were reported on 2 September in Telangana, taking the death toll to 856. The fatality rate in the state stands at 0.64 per cent which is less than the national average of 1.75 per cent.