Telangana government’s efforts keeps Covid under check

Hyderabad: A series of proactive measures taken up at the right time by Telangana government has gone a long way in containing the mortality and morbidity related to the Omicron driven Covid-19 third wave, senior health officials here believe.

While the inherent ‘milder’ nature of the Omicron variant, when compared to the Delta variant, played a vital role in containing the third Covid wave, health officials here point out that the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant had the potential to trigger a steep rise in hospitalisations, which did not happen.

“Extensive vaccinations, hybrid immunity of people of Telangana, fever surveys and exclusive Covid outpatient services played a vital role in containing the Omicron driven Covid third wave. No other State had undertaken the Covid outreach initiative of visiting door-to-door and identifying symptomatic patients and quickly distributing isolation kits,” Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr G Srinivasa Rao said.

The fever surveys and Covid outpatient facilities combined have catered to over 5.50 lakh individuals who had typical flu-like symptoms and conducted door-to-door visits to over 1.20 crore households.

Over 5 lakh home isolation medicine kits comprising antibiotics, Vitamin C and D supplements including Azithromycin (antibiotics/ antiviral), paracetamol (fever), levocetirizine (cold), ranitidine (acidity), Vitamin C, Multivitamin and Vitamin D for improving overall immunity, were distributed.

“People of Telangana also realised the severity of the situation and embraced the use of masks at the right time. Apart from that, proactive measures including fever surveys, Covid OP services and vaccinations played a vital role. Less than 1 per cent of the vaccinated population in Telangana, who tested positive for Covid during third wave, needed hospitalisation, which highlights the effectiveness of intense vaccine administration drive taken up in December,” senior health official said.

While Telangana has reached the end-stages of the Covid third wave, the fact remains that there is a lot of uncertainty over how coronavirus will behave in coming months.
“We have learned a lot from the past three Covid waves. Irrespective of whether a fresh surge will occur, the fact remains that we all must start living with Covid-19, which has started to happen across Europe,” DPH, Dr Srinivasa Rao added.

Proactive measures to tackle Covid third wave:

1. Covering over 1 crore households under fever survey
2. 5.5 lakh people with Covid symptoms given treatment beforehand
3. Vaccines were effective in reducing hospitalisations
4. Intense vaccine administration drive
5. Less than 1 percent of vaccinated individuals needed hospital care
6. Extensive adherence to masks

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