TS says will control Covid by Sept end
Disease progressing as expected: Health dir
The Telangana state health department on Tuesday held out immense hope to the people, declaring that they can look forward to a “return to their normal lives” by the end of September.
“Covid-19 has been brought under control in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area. By the end of September, it will be fully under control in the state. People can get back to their normal lives. There is no need for fear. The government has made all arrangements (for control and treatment of the disease),” Director of Health Services Dr G. Srinivasa Rao declared at a press conference here.
He stressed on the importance of people continuing to practise good health and hygiene habits they have adopted since the Covid-19 outbreak. “Wear your masks, maintain six feet distance with others, keep your hands clean,” he said.
The top official of the health department said that current research shows that people need
not obsess about changing clothes as soon as they return home, sanitise goods or food materials, or keep them away for a couple of days before touching them. Covid-19, he said, is transmitted through droplets, and through direct contact with an infected person and is not transmitted via clothing or goods brought home.
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“We could possibly go back to our normal lives as we lived them six months ago,” Dr Rao said.
He said Telangana state had adopted ‘strategic’ testing. “We ramped up our testing only when we needed it. We performed
52,933 tests yesterday (Monday) in the 1,100 testing centres across the state. For the past few days, we were averaging
40,000 tests a day,” Dr Rao said.
“The important aspect is that our aggressive testing and treatment over the past few months has resulted in a very low mortality rate, which is going down further,” he said.
As part of the Covid-19 control measures, containment zones were put in place in Hyderabad and other districts. House to house surveillance and testing of suspects were being done where positive cases ere found and 20 mobile testing vehicles that perform RT-PCR tests were pressed into service, Dr Rao said.
While the government had 20,396 exclusive
Covid-19 beds, an additional 18,000 beds were available in the state. A total of 15,000 beds now have been provided with oxygen connections, he said. Dr Rao also said that
50 per cent of all beds in private hospitals were occupied by Covid-19 patients from neighbouring states including Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.