Telangana completes administering 1st COVID vaccine dose to all eligible citizens

In a major development in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Telangana announced that it has completed vaccinating 100% of its eligible population with the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Announcing the development on Twitter, Telangana Health Minister Harish Rao Thanneeru sent his best wishes to "our doctors, health workers and administration for this achievement." 

In another tweet, Thanneeru added, "Together, we can achieve the milestone of being a 100% fully vaccinated state too. Request all the people of Telangana to get fully vaccinated with two doses and encourage their loved ones to do the same. Remember, our battle against COVID-19 can only be won when we #StaySafe. (sic)"

Telangana reports single-day rise of 7 Omicron cases

On Tuesday, Telangana reported seven new COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant taking the tally to 62. Of the seven cases, four were passengers who arrived at the international airport from countries other than those declared 'at risk' by the Centre, while three were contacts of patients who tested positive for the variant earlier, a department bulletin said, news agency PTI reported.

According to a bulletin by the Telangana Health Ministry, 13 among the 62 who tested positive for Omicron have recovered from the infection.

The state reported 228 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the total tally to 6,81,072, while the death toll rose to 4,024 with one more fatality.

Telangana government prohibits rallies and public meetings

In light of the emerging COVID-19 cases in Telangana, the state government has also prohibited all public rallies and meetings till January 2 and imposed certain restrictive measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A government order issued by State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar informed about the same and said that other events involving the gathering of people will be permitted subjected to directions of appropriate COVID behaviour. 

(With inputs from PTI)