Telangana: Cabinet To Review Testing Policy And Decide COVID Curb Policies

The cabinet will convene on Monday to review the situation in the state as the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing during the 3rd wave.

Among other things, Telangana will focus on the testing policy and other possible steps to take if the cases increase after the Sankranti festivities end.

The state's testing policy has shifted over time. Currently, health officials have been instructed to conduct tests only on those who were symptomatic or 1st contacts with severe comorbidities. The state has been conducting an average of 50,000 tests per day.

Previously, the state had been testing all individuals, but the policy was changed to test only those who were symptomatic.

According to officials, the number of required tests was not increasing for the same reason, as most cases were asymptomatic.

"There will certainly be a discussion about Tamil Nadu's recent decision to send samples of positive cases only from cluster areas to the National Institute of Virology so that new variants can be detected," sources said.

Since the ICMR has issued an advisory stating that testing should no longer be done on-demand, experts and epidemiologists have expressed varying opinions. The cabinet meeting would decide on the imposition of night curfew and when and how restrictions should be implemented. "There will also be a discussion about prohibiting large rallies and gatherings," top officials said.

Officials would also brief CM KCR on the vaccination drive as well as the state's increasing caseload and positivity rate data. During a recent review meeting with CMs, PM Modi asked the states to be prepared, with bed capacity and oxygen supply, and to use funds provided by the Centre.

While nearly half of the more than 700 districts in the country have a positivity rate of over 5%, none of the districts in Telangana has a positivity rate of around 1%. At 1.02%, Hyderabad has the highest positivity rate. The Centre previously advised imposing restrictions (area-specific) where positivity rate was greater than 10%.