Telangana’s Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Rao said that the next three to four weeks are very crucial for Telangana in the battle against COVID-19. Addressing the media with updates about the state’s fight against COVID-19, Rao told reporters that 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 over the last one week.
He said that the spike in the number of cases appears to have stabilised. However, it may take three to four weeks for the situation to come under control. Since the marriage and festival season is approaching, people need to be more alert in the 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 the 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-19 patients. These include 18,000 ICU beds and 10,000 with oxygen supply.
Rao clarified that 85% of people infected by COVID-19 don't need hospital admissions and they can be treated at home. He said that due to panic, some people were running around hospitals for admission though they can be treated at home.
The director said that the testing facility is also only for those who have symptoms of COVID-19. 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% of those vaccinated have not been affected by COVID-19.
He said all those above 18 years should register themselves for vaccination. The Union government 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 that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, despite being infected by COVID-19, is monitoring the situation in the state every hour with the Health Minister and the Chief Secretary. The Director also revealed that KCR is doing well and is recuperating fast.
On Wednesday evening, a note from the CMO said that KCR had tested negative in an antigen test and that he had also taken an RT PCR test and was awaiting the result of the same.