The Telangana state health authority has started detaining passengers (only those who are randomly selected/250 each day) till their result comes out negative.
Hyderabad: In a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, Telangana has started detaining randomly selected passengers from non-risk countries until the RT-PCR report comes negatives. As per reports, health authorities have started detaining 2% of passengers arriving from non-risk countries until their RT-PCR test reports return negative results.
Earlier, randomly selected passengers from non-risk countries were stopped for random RT-PCR tests (as per central guidelines), however, they were allowed to proceed further without awaiting results. But, now the Telangana state health authority has started detaining passengers (only those who are randomly selected/250 each day) till their result comes out negative. And, if the tested passengers’ results turn out positive, they are being shifted to institutional quarantine.
This decision was announced after 16 out of 20 Omicron cases in the state were from those passengers who came from non-risk countries. Earlier on Sunday, as many as 134 fresh coronavirus cases were reported in Telangana on Sunday, pushing the total positives to 6,79,564, while the toll climbed to 4,015 with one more fatality. The number of active cases stood at 3,693, a state health department bulletin said.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the highest number of cases with 82, followed by Ranga Reddy 9. A total of 201 people recovered from the infectious disease today and the cumulative number of recoveries till date was 6,71,856, the bulletin said.
It said 25,900 samples were tested today and the total number tested till date was 2.92 crore. The samples tested per million population were 7,86,815. The recovery rate and case fatality rate in the state was 98.86 per cent and 0.59 per cent respectively, the bulletin said. As of December 18, Telangana has reported 20 Omicron (new coronavirus variant) cases. The samples of seven people are awaited for their Omicron variant status, it added.
