The wedding season in Telangana put health officials on toes as they fear that the number of Covid-19 infections would see a sharp spike. And the situation will become grim in coming days.
New variant B.1.1529 of SARS-CoV-2 virus has put Telangana government on high alert which tightened the surveillance activities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. In the view of the new variant, health minister Harish Rao will convene a meeting with officials of health department. Harish Rao is likely to direct the officials on the measures to be taken up on international arrivals. It is already known that the centre has alerted the states over the new variant following which the state governments has put the health department on alert.
The contacts of these international travellers will also be tracked. There samples will be collected and sent to the Genome Sequencing Laboratory in Hyderabad. If they test positive, they will be immediately shifted to an isolation centre.
Since the second wave managed to ruin the wedding plans of many, the number of couples tying the knot this year is understandably higher than usual.
Sources in the health department said that the Covid-19 induced lockdown fatigue over the past two years has now led to many people coming out of homes and attending wedding functions. The vaccination rates have also gone up which led to many people casting their masks aside and ignoring social distancing norms. However, sources were confident that the fatality rate may not be high as a majority of the people are vaccinated.
A recent analysis by LocalCircles says that as compared to the corresponding period a year ago, the number of people expected to attend an engagement or a wedding is likely to rise significantly during November-December 2021, with fewer citizens now considering the risk of contracting Covid-19 to be high at such events.
In 2020, as many as 57 percent of the citizens had said that they believed the risk of Covid spreading at weddings or engagements was high. This number has dropped to 22 percent in 2021.
According to WeddingWire India, the Indian subsidiary of The Knot Worldwide, a leading online marketplace for couples and wedding professionals, the wedding season is back in the new normal with a surge of 57 percent more guests in November 2021 as compared to the previous year.
Telangana registered 147 fresh Covid-19 cases and one related fatality taking the total positives in the state to 6,75,148 and the toll to 3,986. Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy was among those who tested positive for the virus.
The number of active cases stood at 3,531, a State government bulletin said. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation reported the highest number of 56 cases followed by Rangareddy 12 and Karimnagar districts 11. A total of 33,836 samples were tested today. #KhabarLive #hydnews
