Increasing cases of Covid-19 have become a cause for great concern in Telangana.
According to reports, over 100 students tested positive for the dangerous disease on Tuesday, March 16. The Minorities Welfare Residential School in Nagole, Hyderabad, registered 36 cases while 12 teachers in a government school in Mancherial tested positive. In the same Mancherial school, 29 students and 9 parents (of different children) also tested positive.
Overall, the state recorded a whopping 247 cases, pushing up the total tally to 3,01,769. Of these, 41 were from Medchal-Malkajgiri, 35 from Kamareddy, 29 from the Greater Hyderabad region, and 10 from Rangareddy, among other places. With three new deaths, the state's death toll has now risen to 1,659.
Nirmal district's Bhainsa, still reeling from the shock of a
communal clash, is also one of the areas hit by the rise.
According to the district's health officials, 25 students of a boys school tested positive today, after nine students tested positive yesterday. 29 police personnel were also tested. Out of this, one tested positive.
Meanwhile, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also expressed concern regarding the resurgent Covid-19 wave in the state, and about the high vaccine wastage rate (Telangana registered the highest wastage of vaccines in the nation). In a virtual meeting, she directed the Raj Bhavan officials to get a report from the health department about the reported wastage, the increase in the number of cases in the state's schools and hostels, and the measures taken to contain Covid-19.
"I am concerned about the high number of Covid-19 positive cases in a couple of residential schools, and the high rate of vaccine wastage in our Telangana. When more than 70 countries are seeking our vaccine, we cannot afford to waste the same. All the eligible need to get vaccinated on a priority," the Governor added.
She also appealed to the people of the state to adhere strictly to the Covid-19 preventive norms to contain the pandemic.
Just yesterday, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had also addressed the matter, and said that he would soon
take a call on whether to discontinue on-site classes in the face of rising Covid-19 cases in the state, and across the country.