Fever survey: 1.78L symptomatic cases identified in Telangana

Hyderabad: Amid Covid surge, fever survey has revealed that around 1,78,912 persons are symptomatic in the state.

Not all fevers or fever-like symptoms could be COVID-19. However, it raises eyebrows when the data is given out in the daily health bulletin.

From January 21 to 23, a total of 42,30,229 houses were covered in the door-to-door survey and 2,23,944 COVID OP consultations were conducted.

The data was submitted by the state government to Telangana High Court. According to the survey data, a total of 1,78,179 home isolation kits were distributed among the symptomatic patients.

The highest number of symptomatic cases were identified in Bhadradri Kothagudem (12,121) followed by Sangareddy (11,737), Medchal Malkajgiri (10,637), and Hyderabad (10,077). All the other districts had symptomatic cases in four digits.

What's wrong with the numbers?

1,78,912 symptomatic persons were identified in the fever survey from January 21 to 23. According to the daily bulletin by the Health Department, the total number of COVID cases was 12,412. This is 14 times less than what the fever survey revealed.

Bhadradri Kothagudem

According to the state health bulletins, Bhadradri Kothagudem recorded a total of 214 cases on January 21, 22, and 23. However, according to the fever survey, 12,121 symptomatic persons were identified in the district which is 56% more than the actual COVID-19 cases reported.

Sangareddy

In Sangareddy 281 people tested positive during three days. But the fever survey showed almost 41.7% of people (11,737) were having symptoms.

Medchal Malkajgiri

Around 1,146 people tested positive for COVID-19 from January 21 to January 23. As per the fever survey, 10,637 people showed fever-like symptoms on these three days which is 9.25 less than the number of COVID-19 cases reported.

Hyderabad

In Hyderabad, a total of 4,734 people tested positive for COVID-19 in three days. However, the fever survey data 10,077 people were symptomatic.

In the rest of the 29 districts, daily COVID-19 cases were reported in two digits. However, the fever survey data shows four-digit symptomatic cases.

Fever Survey

Amid rising COVID-19 cases and growing concern over Omicron, Telangana health minister T. Harish Rao had announced that the state government will start conducting fever survey from January 21.

People were surveyed at outpatient clinics and households. The programme was conducted to test and isolate people having fever or fever-like symptoms at an early stage.

Municipal and Panchayat officials along with health personnel were involved in the door-to-door survey. Home isolation kits were given to those who showed symptoms. As per the fever survey, a symptomatic person will be shifted to the nearest government hospital, if need be

The government had conducted a fever survey during the second wave of the COVID-19 and home isolation kits were distributed. Rao said Niti Ayog recently released a report and called the fever survey one of the best practices to tackle COVID-19.