Wearing masks made compulsory in State

Hyderabad: In order to control and to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the State, the government once again made wearing masks compulsory due to surge in COVID-19 cases in the state. It is reported that the violators will have to cough up fine.

Speaking to the media, Director of Public Health and Family Welfare Dr G Srinivasa Rao on Friday informed that the State will see a hike in COVID-19 cases till the pandemic turns endemic which is likely to happen by the end of the current year.

Adding further, he said that though the number of cases is slightly increasing, hospitalisation is near zero.

He stated that the patients who are getting infected with virus are witnessing mild symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat, etc.

He urged people to take precautionary measures and follow the Covid protocols.

He asked the parents of the school students who are aged 12-18 years to get their kids vaccinated to avoid any infection.

Amid rumours of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in State, He ruled out the possibility of another wave in the State.

Citing the reasons for ruling out, he said that firstly, the number of BA.4 and BA.5 cases in the state is very less. Second, most of the people of the state have developed antibodies as they got infected with the virus in the past.

On Friday, the State reported 155 new COVID-19 cases. However, no fresh fatalities were reported due to the infectious disease.

Out of the total number of cases reported in the state, Hyderabad accounted for the highest number of 81 cases followed by 42 cases in Rangareddy district.

As per the bulletin issued by the government, the number of active COVID cases in the state has reached 907.