Telangana Health officials warn people against mass gatherings

With the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 getting reported in Hyderabad, the Health Department on Wednesday urged people in Telangana to avoid crowded gatherings, areas, marriages, upcoming festivals including Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Sankranti and ensure everybody wears masks, maintains physical distancing and gets vaccinated.

There is ample evidence that Omicron is highly transmissible than the earlier Delta variant of SARs-CoV-2 and it is clearly airborne. The people have learnt a lot of lessons from the past two waves of the pandemic. This is the time for all of us to wear masks, avoid crowded gatherings, festivals and only invite close family members to marriages. There is a clear increase in vaccine breakthrough cases due to the Omicron variant. However, for those who get vaccinated, chances are that the severity among them will be less, Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr G Srinivasa Rao on Wednesday said.

The general public must be extremely cautious and take precautions in every walk of life, as Omicron will find it very easy to proliferate. In UK, the Omicron variant is doubling every 2.5 days while in some other European countries it is doubling in just 1.5 days, health officials said.

“If families are making plans to travel with their elders, this is not the time for that. We are expecting a surge of infections in the next few weeks and there is a possibility that even the healthcare systems in Telangana are overwhelmed during the surge. This is the time to get vaccinated and take extreme precautions for the next few months,” he said.

Extensive use of masks, physical distancing, getting vaccinated, having proper ventilation at offices and homes and use of hand sanitization are the only measures that are available to prevent Covid infection.

“Since this is a new variant, we do not have enough data on the disease progression among children and elderly when they test positive for the Omicron variant. Taking all possible precautions are the only thing that we have under our control. In the last few days, the mask compliance among the population has improved to 50 per cent in Hyderabad. 

However, this has to improve to 100 per cent and all of us must wear masks even when we are indoors. Masks play an important role in Even inside the houses, we must wear masks so that other family members are not infected,” Dr Rao added.

Wear masks properly over mouth and nose at all times

Maintain physical distance at all places

Get fully vaccinated at earliest

Omicron is clearly airborne

Proper ventilation at homes and offices is must

Marriages in presence of family members is best way to keep new variant at bay

Avoid crowded gatherings and functions

Use proper hand washing with sanitisers

In case of symptoms, don’t neglect or try to self-diagnose

Go to nearest Primary Health Centre and get a Covid test done

The Director of Public Health, Dr G Srinivasa Rao on Wednesday ruled out any chance or proposals to impose lockdown in case of a new surge of Covid infections driven by the Omicron variant.

“At the most, there could be some local restrictions. But, there is no possibility of imposing lockdowns in the near future. Self-regulation and taking precautions at the individual level are the best ways to prevent the Omicron



variant from spreading. Please wear masks and save your lives,” Dr Rao urged.

The Health Department completed the administration of 97 per cent of the first doses of Covid vaccine to eligible persons in Telangana. There has also been a rise in individuals who are turning up at the government-run Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs) for getting administered with Covid vaccines.

On a daily basis, the authorities are able to administer at least 4 lakh Covid vaccines to eligible individuals in Telangana. “There are just 9.38 lakh individuals who are due for first dose of Covid vaccine and 29.44 lakh individuals who are due for the second dose,” DPH, Dr G Srinivasa Rao on Wednesday said.

So far, a total of 4.19 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in Telangana out of which 2.68 crore were first dose while 1.5 crore were the second dose of Covid vaccines.

“I urge people of Telangana to co-operate and get fully vaccinated at the earliest, as it has the potential to prevent severe Covid infection from Omicron variant. There are more than 40 lakh doses of Covid vaccines in stock and there is shortage in Telangana,” DPH said.

There is no evidence of community transmission of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Telangana. However, people should be prepared for a surge in Covid infections driven by the Omicron variant in another six weeks across Telangana, senior health officials here on Wednesday said.

A fool-proof surveillance mechanism is in place in Telangana to track Covid infections. Apart from conducting RT-PCR tests on all the international passengers who arrive from at-risk countries, every day at least 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the samples from all the RT-PCR laboratories in Telangana are sent to genetic laboratories for genome sequencing. These samples are of Covid positive patients who have no history of travel to countries where Omicron has been reported.

“If there is a community transmission, we will be the first to know the trend. So far, there is no evidence of community transmission and we only have two imported cases of Omicron positive cases. However, given the high transmissibility of the new variant, people must realise that there is a lot of chance for the virus to spread quickly and infect more people. That’s why taking precautions at the individual level is important,” DPH, Dr G Srinivasa Rao on Wednesday said.

There is going to be a surge of Covid infections in January but the surge could be mild and not like the one during the second Covid wave. However, the fact remains that due to high transmissibility, there is every possibility that Omicron could spread quickly, which will put the public and private healthcare facilities under a lot of burden, officials said.

Given the fact that both the Kenyan and Somali nationals, who had tested Omicron positive, were not under isolation, there is a chance of more Omicron infections in Toli Chowk area and wherever else both of them might have travelled during home quarantine, officials said.

The district health surveillance teams are conducting a series of field visits in the Toli Chowk neighbourhood where both Kenyan and Somali national had tested positive for Omicron. In case of anybody having Covid like symptoms, they would undergo RT-PCR tests.