Telangana logs 1913 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths

Telangana continued to witness a rise in COVID-19 cases with 1,913 new infections being reported on Thursday, taking the tally to 6,87,456 while the death toll rose to 4,036 with two more fatalities.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of fresh cases with 1,214, followed by Ranga Reddy (213) district, the bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 PM today.

It said 232 people recovered from the infection on Thursday. The cumulative number of recoveries till date was 6,75,573.

The number of active cases surged to 7,847, the bulletin said.

It said 54,534 samples were tested today and the total number examined till date was nearly three crore.

Meanwhile Telangana Public health Director G Srinivasa Rao told a press conference that 70 per cent COVID-19 cases reported in the country may belong to the Omicron variant though it is not a concern as the treatment is the same for any strain.

"There are over 55,000 cases reported yesterday (in India). Do you think that all are delta variant cases, when the delta variant is almost closed (coming to an end). Our estimates are that more than 70 per cent are Omicron cases, because we cannot do genome sequencing for everyone. There is no use to do the genome sequencing. We have to see whether it is a COVID-19 case or not, because the treatment is same for all variants," the official claimed.

He said the state is well prepared to tackle the third wave of COVID-19 and as part of that the government has made 60,000 beds ready including private hospitals.

He said the state government has a target to complete 100 per cent vaccination of the second dose component of COVID-19 jab by January 26.

As of today 71 per cent of the eligible adults have received their second dose, he added.