Second Covid wave over in Telangana

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 19

Telangana has formally declared that the second wave of Covid-19 is finally over.

As a result, the state can take important decisions like reopening educational institutions in the state. Announcing this, the Director, Public Health and Family Welfare, Dr G Srinivasa Rao, said the pandemic is under control in all the districts.

He said that the state was ready if the third wave of Covid-19 were to manifest itself.

Rao said it was time that the state’s schools, colleges, and universities could be opened, but only vaccinated teachers and staff should be allowed. The Covid R-factor, he said, has dropped to 0.7% after the state-administered 1.65 crore doses of vaccines.

Giving details, he said 56 per cent of the people received the first dose at least while 34 per cent have received both doses. Rao also revealed that 90 per cent of the beneficiaries in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area had received at least the first dose.

He appealed to people not to treat all fever cases as Covid-19 cases. He suggested that people having fever immediately undergo diagnostic tests as it could be malaria or dengue. For the treatment of dengue, 24 platelet extraction machines were kept ready.