Telangana’s recovery rate of 94% betters India’s 92%

Hyderabad: In what could bring cheer in the second wave of pandemic, Telangana seems to be doing fairly well with its Covid-19 recovery rate touching 94% (as on June 2) when compared to other southern states. According to health experts, a recovery rate of above 90%-92% augurs well in Covid-19 management and that the state should breathe easy.

Currently, the country’s overall recovery rate stands at 92%. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s recovery rate, on the other hand, continues to be below 90%. Officials said the recovery rate in Telangana had jumped by 5% in just 20 days. From 89% on May 16, the recovery rate now stands at 94%.

IIT Hyderabad professor M Vidyasagar, who was part of the team to predict SUTRA Model on Covid-19, said apart from Telangana, many states and countries are now recording a good recovery rate. “The key factor is maintaining the rate, which is important. This will automatically lead to a better declining rate in the positive cases being reported,” he said. He further said a good recovery rate will depend a lot on the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour among the people and not just on containment and other Covid-19 measures initiated by the government.

Between May 16 and June 2, there were 54,405 positive cases reported in the state and 71,637 people had recovered from the infection in this period. Officials said on May 16, the active cases tally was 50,969, while only 5,892 people had recovered in the state on that day. “Whereas, if we look at a comparison of recoveries and active cases in the state on June 2, the active cases stand at 33,379, while 2,242 people have recovered from the virus which is a very good sign,” a senior health official explained.

Medical and health experts said the current recovery rate actually reflects the status of dipping Covid-19 cases in the last fortnight and called for maintaining this trend. Dr Subodh Kandamuthan, professor and director, Centre for Health Care Management, ASCI, said the severity of the virus is low now compared to previous two weeks when the active cases were high and the recovery rate was less than 90%.