Since the start of COVID-19 pandemic in Hyderabad, the Amberpet circle within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits seems to have recorded the highest number of positive cases since March, closely followed by the Goshamahal circle. A brief analysis of the data from March uploaded by the GHMC shows that Amberpet circle has recorded 1,747 cases, the highest within GHMC limits closely followed by the Goshamahal circle with 1,413 cases.
According to the GHMC data, Karwan circle recorded 1,354 cases, Malakpet recorded 1,300 cases, Jubilee Hills recorded 1,277 cases, Mehdipatnam 1,211 cases, Khairatabad 1,209 cases, Begumpet 1,121 cases and the Secunderabad circle of the GHMC recorded 946 cases.
It was on Monday that the GHMC upon orders from the Telangana High Court in June began uploading the patient ID, ward, circle and zone details on their website. The data, as per the court's orders, is also to be shared with Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) and on the front page of vernacular dailies.
However, conversations with GHMC officials suggest that the data, being uploaded as per instructions of the Telangana High Court, may not be accurate.
Speaking to TNM, Dr Hemalatha, the Assistant Medical Health Officer for Amberpet and Musheerabad, said the number of total cases recorded from Amberpet locality since March is not 1,747 but just 888 cases, “The total cases recorded under the Amberpet locality since the start of the pandemic in March is 888 cases. The locality at the moment has 508 active cases reported in last 17 days," he said.
The officer also suggested that the numbers shown on the GHMC website may be overlapping and in some case patients may not have been recorded. “There are many cases that are overlapping and hence got counted twice and in several instances, people were issued double patient IDs. We are also getting details of patients who visit private hospitals late and those details get updated later or may not get updated if we don't have to get the details," she said.
The officer also added that in the past several weeks instances have risen where officials were unable to trace COVID-19 positive patients, "There are some 277 persons who we were unable to trace, they give wrong details while getting tested, they will receive the test status saying they are positive but then won't pick up the calls," the doctor added. In such instances, the officials will only have the patient ID. The ward, circle and zone details will be falsified.
The GHMC corporator for Amberpet Jagan Pili affiliated with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) also told TNM that the numbers shown on the GHMC website are inflated, “The numbers are not accurate, it shows over 1,700 cases since the start of the pandemic, the real number is 1,450, this is Thursday's total. The cases are high in this locality because of the police quarters. A lot of police officers and their families tested positive at the Police Lines where the police stay with their families and at the police academy,” said the corporator who added that they have been undertaking sanitization drives. “This is a predominantly slum area and so we have to be careful,” he added.