What about children’s concerns, HC asks T

 What about children’s concerns, HC asks T

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SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Hyderabad: Agreeing with the concerns that the third wave of Covid-19 may adversely affect unvaccinated people like children, the Telangana high court on Tuesday directed the state government to convey to the court within three days the steps its health authorities have taken to cater to the needs of the children.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili said this while resuming the hearing in the Covid-19 batch PILs. The bench said the medical kits being supplied during the state’s door-to-door survey to those who were found suffering from fevers were general in nature. “Children may need special kits in tune with their requirements. Also, tell us what happened to your promises of setting up more children hospitals to face the third wave challenge,” the bench said addressing the state government.

Kowturu Pavan Kumar, counsel for one of the petitioners, brought to the notice of the bench the fact that as many as 1. 75 lakh people were identified with fevers during the state survey. But, the daily medical bulletin of the health department was showing the Covid-19 cases at around 3,000 per day, he said.

Supporting this view, senior counsel L Ravi Chander said the statistics being furnished by the state “are like the proverbial emperor’s new clothes”. Everyone knew that they were not correct. At least let the state government ensure social distancing and mask norms. “Nobody is wearing the mask outside. No one is qu-estioning them on the road,” he said. Ravi Chander further said: “Let the director of public health appear before this court and answer the queries of the petitioners. ”

The bench then directed the state government to penali- se those who were not wearing masks and roaming freely. The bench sought a detailed report from the health department.

It wanted the DPH or any other expert to appear before the court virtually on January 28, the next date of hearing.

After brief drop, cases on rise again

Hyderabad: After a brief dip, the number of Covid-19 cases in Telangana saw an upward trend with the state recording 4,559 cases on Tuesday.

With the rise in cases, the number of active cases across the state stood at 36,269 and the total number of cases jumped to 7.43 lakh. The death toll rose to 4,077 after the state recorded two Covid-19 fatalities.

Of the 4,559 cases, 1,450 were recorded in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits followed by 432 in Medchal-Mal- kajgiri and 322 in Rangareddy districts.

As many as 1,961 Covid-19 affected people recovered on Tuesday pushing the total number of recoveries since the onset of pandemic at 7,03,008. While the case fatality rate was constant at 0.55 per cent, the recovery rate dropped further to 94.57 per cent. At 201 Covid-19 cases, Hanamkonda was among the districts that recorded high number of cases followed by 145 at Khammam, 138 at Nalgonda, 112 at Karimnagar, 96 at Peddapalli and 93 at Bhadadri Kothagudem among others.