70% of COVID cases likely to be infected by Omicron variant: TS health department

Hyderabad: The state health department has estimated that 70 percent of all samples testing positive in Telangana are likely to be infected by the Omicron variant.

"We walk on the side of the road to avoid getting hit because there are vehicles moving in the middle. Similarly, the cases are increasing. People should all due precautions to avoid getting infected by the virus," said Dr. G Srinivasa Rao, director of public health.

He said imposing restrictions is considered when the positivity rate is more than 10% and hospitalization is more than 40%. "At present, we have all the resources and the state is doing better. The health department has suggested to the government that there is no need to impose any new restrictions. Along with COVID-19, the livelihood of the people is also important," he added.

The state government has said there is a community spread as far as Omicron is concerned. So, they have stopped publishing data of Omicron results in the bulletin from Thursday.

Director of Public Health said it is impossible to sequence all samples as the cases are surging, but Omicron was the dominant strain. "We cannot conduct genome sequencing for everyone. We have to see if someone has COVID-19 or not. The Omicron variant is in the community so it cannot be contained by testing 300-500 people at the airport. We need not know whether it is Delta, Gamma, or Omicron variant, as testing and treatment are the same. We cannot conduct genome sequencing on everybody. There is no need for it," said DPH.

He added that every Covid positive case sample in the Greater Hyderabad limits was being sent for genome sequencing which will show us which variant is more prevalent.

He said 94 passengers arriving from at-risk and not-at-risk countries had tested positive for the Omicron variant. Most of those who found Omicron positive were foreign nationals and four others were identified as local contacts.

Director of Public Health said that people with the Omicron variant are recovering in five days. "Around 90 percent of them are asymptomatic. And the remaining 10 percent have a mild fever, discomfort in the throat, cough, head, and body aches. People with even mild symptoms were urged to undergo tests at the nearest health center. Asymptomatic people were asked not to get admitted to hospitals as COVID patients who need hospital care should not be deprived of beds. COVID-19 cases in the state will peak at the end of the month and will decline by mid-February," he said.

Meanwhile, in another major spike, Telangana added 1,913 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing the cumulative caseload to 6,87,456. On Wednesday, the state had reported only 1520 cases. The number of active cases in the state currently stands at 7,847. Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours in Telangana.

Among the districts, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was the main contributor registering 1214 new cases followed by Rangareddy (213), Medchal-Malkajgiri (161), and Mahabubabad (33).

As many as 54,534 samples were tested in the state during the past 24 hours. Of which the results of 7,365 swab samples are awaited. Cumulatively, 2,99,37,675 COVID-19 tests have been carried out in the state so far since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.