Bringing cheer to people in this season of marriages, Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao has given the go ahead to organise parties and other events without restrictions. However, he has asked people to maintain certain precautions.
The senior official has asked people to get vaccinated, if not taken yet, and wear masks in crowded places.
Addressing a press conference in the city on Thursday, he asked the managements of IT companies to resume work from office completely, since the livelihoods of thousands of people are dependent on them.
When asked if the mandatory mask rule would be brought back, he clarified that the Telangana government has not yet withdrawn the mask rule. “It is still being enforced. If someone is found not wearing a mask, a fine of ₹1,000 will be imposed,” he said.
Apart from the prevalence of antibodies against coronavirus in an estimated 93% general population in Telangana, Dr. Rao mentioned a few more reasons to substantiate his point that cases will not spike in the State, and even if it does, it will be mild.
Citing earlier observations, he said that prevalence of BA.1 sub-variant of Omicron was 30%, and BA.2 was 70%. And as per genome sequencing in the State and across the country, the current prevalence of BA.2 is 94%.
He said that the COVID surge in China or other countries was due to the Omicron variant, which Telangana and the rest of India have already been through. The only concern is XE variant, he said, adding that the infection in this case is mild, unlike high mortality or severity caused by Delta variant in second wave.
He also said that SAR-COV-2 would become an endemic by December this year, and would turn into a normal flu.
