Incidence of SARS-Cov-2 in Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital during Second Wave in Mahabubnagar, India- A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: In the year 2020, infectious outbreak in Wuhan city of China with SARS-CoV-2 and its rapid spread to most countries in the world lead to the pandemic. Ramping up the testing infrastructure played an important role in containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among people in a district. In this view, virology laboratory was set-up at Government Medical College, Mahabubnagar, Telangana in October 2020. In the beginning of COVID -19 in India, samples collected in Mahabubnagar for detection of SARS-CoV-2 were sent to a Virology lab which was 100 km away from the district. Aim: The aim of this study was to observe the demographic details and the different variants of SARS-CoV-2. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed on the nasopharyngeal swab samples received for a period of one year (November 2020 to October 2021) at Government Medical College, Mahabubnagar, Telangana using rtRT PCR as a method of diagnosis. The total samples recieved at the laboratory were 28221 out of which 28146 samples were included in the study. In addition, a total of 15 positive samples were sent to Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) for RNA sequencing to identify the variants of SARS-CoV-2. Demographic details were noted from the Indian council of Medical Research (ICMR) sample referral form. The data was analysed and presented as numbers and percentages. Results: 28146 samples were accepted and tested. Among these, 5749 samples were tested positive (20.42%). Males were predominant with 60.54% and 27.50% of the patients were in the age group of 21-30 years. Out of 5749, 43.75% of the patients were tested for the ILI symptoms (category 9). Fever was the most common symptom and most of the positive cases during the second wave in India were due to delta variant. Conclusion: In this study, delta was the only variant observed during the peak of second wave in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana.