On Tuesday, Telangana reported its first instance of local transmission of the Omicron variant, after a doctor, an oncologist became Omicron positive who treated foreign nationals including an Omicron positive patient on December 16. The health department has started tracing his possible contacts including all his cancer patients and colleagues. Their samples are being collected and sent for genome sequencing.

3 more positive cases of the variant from international fliers were reported in Telangana on Tuesday taking the state’s tally to 24, while results of samples from 13 others who are positive for Covid-19 are awaited. Till date 9,122 passengers have arrived in Hyderabad from ‘at-risk’ countries, out of which 59 tested positive for Covid-19, while 4 were positive to the Omicron variant. 24 persons were currently admitted to the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences after they tested positive for the Omicron variant. Among them 19 were from countries that are not declared ‘at-risk’. They were asymptomatic and in stable medical condition.

172 positive cases of Covid-19 were reported in Telangana on Tuesday, so the state health department has requested people to avoid large gatherings and strictly adhere to the COVID protocol in public places. 

According to the health department, 2.73 crore people in the state had been vaccinated with the first dose and 1.67 crore people received both doses. On precautionary note, the state government has arranged for 27,996 beds of which 25,390 are converted to oxygen beds, which includes 5,200 paediatric oxygen beds set aside for COVID-19 treatment in government hospitals. The oxygen generation capacity in the state has been enhanced from 135 MT/day to 327 MT/day.

Source: The Indian Express