Hyderabad: Amid sudden rise in COVID cases in various countries including China, and the US, many people in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana have started taking precautionary measures.
Though taking precautionary measures is the need of the hour, there is no need to panic as the official COVID status bulletins show that there is no surge in the number of cases in Telangana.
COVID cases in Hyderabad
The daily count of COVID cases in the state remains in single digit. On December 20, the state reported five cases. Out of them, four were reported in Hyderabad.
In the past seven days, Hyderabad reported 24 COVID cases whereas, Nizamabad saw three cases, Rangareddy two, Mahabubnagar one, Khammam one, Nizamabad one, Kamareddy one, Hanumakonda one and Adilabad one.
As on December 20, the number of active COVID cases in Telangana stands at 34 and the recovery rate was 99.51 percent.
Against the WHO benchmark of 140 per million tests per day i.e., 56000 tests per day, the state performed 4654 tests on Tuesday.
Increase genome sequencing of positive samples: Center to States
Seeing the rise in COVID cases in many countries, the central government on Tuesday asked states to increase genome sequencing of positive samples. Such exercise will ensure early detection of any new variant. It facilitates authorities and medical teams to take decisions quickly.
In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan highlighted that the public health challenge of COVID-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh cases reported weekly.
Top epidemiologist warns that world may see deaths in millions
Recently, a top epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding warned that the world may see deaths in millions in the next 90 days.
As per his estimates, 60 percent of China and 10 percent of the world population are likely to be infected over the next three months.
Currently, China is struggling to handle the COVID surge and the country is also facing an extraordinary wave of deaths, RFA reported.