Next 3-4 weeks will be key to contain Covid

Hyderabad NEXT three to four weeks will be crucial in containing the spread of Covid-19, a senior Telangana official said on Wednesday.

Director, Public Health, Dr G Srinivas Rao told reporters if people continue to take all precautions at least till May, the State will pull out of the present situation. He claimed that the situation in the State is showing some signs of improvement for last one week.

He said the spike in number of cases appears to have stabilised. However, it may take 3-4 weeks for the situation to come under control. Since marriage and festival season is approaching, people need to be more alert in coming days, he stressed.

He claimed that Telangana is in a better position compared to many other States in terms of tests, beds and oxygen supply, attributing this to various measures taken by the government over last one year.

He pointed out that when the pandemic broke out, the State had only 1,000 beds with oxygen supply but the number has now gone up to 10,000.

He said 50,000 beds are available for Covid patients. These include 18,000 ICU beds and 10,000 oxygen.

Rao clarified that 85 per cent of people infected by Covid don't need hospital admissions and they can be treated at home. He said due to panic, some people were running around hospitals for admission though they can be treated at home.

The director said testing facility is also only for those who have symptoms of Covid. People who don't have symptoms are thronging the testing centres and thus putting themselves at risk of contracting the virus. "People out of fear are going to testing centres though they are not having any symptoms but there they are getting the infection," he said.

He said so far 45 lakh people have been vaccinated in the State and none of them had any serious side effects. He said those who have taken the vaccine may not need hospitalisation even if they are infected by the virus. According to him, 80 per cent of those vaccinated have not been affected by Covid.

He said all those above 18 years should register themselves for vaccination. The Centre has announced that those above 18 years will be vaccinated from May 1. Vaccination for people above 45 years is continuing.

He claimed that night curfew is helping in containing the spread of Covid-19.

He also said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, despite being infected by Covid, is monitoring the situation in the State every hour with the Health Minister and the Chief Secretary.