Cities most vulnerable to Omicron spread

Hyderabad: Densely populated urban cities have remained the main drivers of Covid-19 infections during the first and second waves. Although it is still in early stages, the Omicron-driven Covid-19 third wave is also on the same path with Hyderabad and its surrounding districts leading the daily new Covid-19 infections. Similar to the earlier two waves […]

Hyderabad: Densely populated urban cities have remained the main drivers of Covid-19 infections during the first and second waves. Although it is still in early stages, the Omicron-driven Covid-19 third wave is also on the same path with Hyderabad and its surrounding districts leading the daily new Covid-19 infections.

Similar to the earlier two waves of the Covid pandemic, a clear pattern has started to emerge with areas under Greater Hyderabad Municipality Corporation (GHMC), Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts reporting the largest Covid-19 infections.

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Between December 1 and December 24, the daily Covid-19 infections in areas under GHMC consistently hovered between 50 and 80 cases. However, after December 25, the Covid infections started to steadily rise from 81 and touched 167 on Thursday.

“For the past two to three days, we have witnessed a clear rise in Covid infections in areas under GHMC and surrounding districts of Hyderabad. We should not be surprised if Covid infections continue to rise in urban centres of Telangana in the coming days, because the Omicron variant is highly transmissible,” Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr G Srinivasa Rao during a recent media interaction said.

During the first Covid wave between March and May of 2020, areas under GHMC and Rangareddy district had reported the highest number of Covid infections. The second wave, between March and May of 2021, was driven by the severe Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, however, spread to other urban centres including Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and extensively in all the districts neighbouring Maharashtra including Nizamabad, Nirmal, Adilabad, Kamareddy and Mancherial.

With Omicron being highly transmissible and air-borne, senior health officials here are anticipating a significant surge in positive cases in Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts, which are densely populated and pose difficulties in containing the spread of the virus.

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