Hyderabad: Corona victims' waste from the ones in home isolation is becoming a public health hazard. Due to the lack of a dedicated collection system, the victims leave them wherever they go, and others who touch them unknowingly become infected with the virus.

There are currently 39,154 positive cases across the country, of which 3,487 are being treated in government hospitals and 10,214 in private hospitals.

Currently, 25,453 people are being treated at home in isolation. Most of them are in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, and Medchal districts. The hazardous items used by the victims include PPE kits, masks, gloves, and other items used by them. This hazardous waste is being dumped between houses. Sanitation workers who separate plastic from garbage by touching them are exposed to the virus.

Where are Containment Zones for this purpose?

Initially, if there was any suspicion, the police, medical health department, and GHMC officials would be alerted. If the police block the movement of others in the vicinity of a positive case, the medical staff will rush the victims to the hospitals. However, there is no hope for those in home isolation, the nursing staff would just go to those homes by themselves and hand out medicine kits and just enquire about any serious health issues. GHMC staff put up a banner of Covid-19 and spray the house with hydrochlorine in order to sanitize the premises.

However, now the situation is totally different. There is lax with respect to the care for the current corona patients.

They are not doing anything right now. They just check if the victim is not venturing out of the house but the essentials like kits and other things are not being supplied to the patients. The result is that patients have to provide for themselves. Victims' consumed goods, leftovers, and other waste materials are being dumped at the end of the street wrapped in covers, and sanitation workers are unaware that they can be infected from it.

New cases on a rise

As of Sunday, 4,009 positive cases were registered across Telangana, while 1,404 cases were registered in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, and Medchal districts. 14 people were killed; nine of them were city dwellers.

Although a large number of deaths are reported along with positive cases, there is no change in the attitude of the citizens. People are neither wearing masks nor maintaining social distance. In the name of feasts and entertainment, people are getting infected with the virus.