Covid-19 in community transmission stage in Telangana?

As the Covid-19 cases tally in Telangana crossed the 50,000 mark on Thursday, a top health official indicated the virus as showing signs of community transmission in the state.

Telangana has at present 50,826 cases out of which only 11,052 are active cases, according to the latest Covid-19 bulletin.

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“This virus went into the community. Where and how it is, we cannot see. This is an invisible virus. People, government, health machinery … Everyone is fighting it. Rains are on and we are in a period of seasonal diseases like flu. We fervently appeal to all to show utmost caution for next 4-5 weeks, which is going to be a critical phase for the state,” Dr G Srinivasa Rao, director, public health and family welfare told reporters on Thursday.

While asking people to make wearing masks, keeping a safe distance from others and hand washing part of their lives, the official appealed to those showing Covid-19 symptoms like cold, cough, and fever to immediately visit health centres to seek medical advice and take tests.

DH attempted to speak to Dr Rao to know if his statement on the virus’s community stage was based on any study and if the ICMR was informed of the same. The official declined calls.

However, Dr Ramesh Reddy, director of medical education, who accompanied Dr Rao in the presser, told DH that this statement was misunderstood.

“What he actually meant was that the virus is in the community like there would be some Covid-19 cases in a building. Community transmission is a rampant spread of cases in an area, a situation which is not anywhere in Telangana yet. Such spread is only confined to small pockets of families in different areas,” Dr Reddy explained.

The state reported 1567 new cases on Thursday. The highest single day spike was 1924 cases reported on July 8.