Five new Omicron cases in Telangana, tally rises to 84

Hyderabad: Telangana recorded 5 new cases of the Omicron variant of Covid in the state on Sunday, taking the total tally of cases in the state to 84.

All the five new cases had arrived from' nonrisk' countries, the State Director of Public Health authorities said in its bulletin.

Nine samples collected from RT-PCR positive passengers at the airport were sent for genome sequencing and another 21 previous samples are awaiting reports. Altogether, 163 passengers landed at the airport on Saturday, fourteen passengers tested positive for Covid-19.

On Saturday, Telangana also saw a decline in Covid-19 cases with 274 new cases and one death were recorded, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 3,661. On the vaccination front, total first dose coverage has reached 101 percent and second dose coverage jumped to 69 percent.

Only 1,210 beds are occupied including 329 beds in government hospitals out of 54,600 beds in government and private hospitals in the state, according to beds status issued by health authorities.

Telangana Government is well prepared to tackle any eventuality in the wake of concerns over Omicron, a new variant of SARS Cov-2. It is important to complete vaccination by taking both doses and it is also equally important to adhere to precautions against COVID, including wearing a face mask and maintaining physical distance, the authorities added.