HYDERABAD: Covid-19 is on its way to become an endemic, a seasonal disease, Telangana’s top health official said on Tuesday.
Director of public health (DPH) G. Srinivasa Rao said that the infection should be treated as any other seasonal disease or like normal flu. He said even though the number of Covid cases had surged recently, there had been no death and only a few hospitalisations in the state. It is to be noted that no other government or medical body in the world has termed Covid-19 as seasonal until now.
The DPH said only people with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney ailments and obesity were being hospitalised and such people should exercise caution. However, he added that people still needed to follow Covid appropriate behaviour.
Stressing that many people who were suffering from typhoid had contracted it by eating street foods such as pani puri, Dr Rao said typhoid was now being referred to as the ‘pani puri disease’ and advised people to avoid the snack.
The DPH said once the heavy rains subsided, the state would see a rise in seasonal diseases such as viral fevers, malaria, dengue and water-borne diseases. He said especially the state’s urban areas had recorded a rise in typhoid and dengue cases. “The health department has alerted all DMHOs and set up rapid health teams across the state. Wherever there are outbreaks and clusters, we are holding health camps,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad has seen a surge of dengue cases and recorded 144 cases in just 10 days from July 1 to 10, as per data provided by the health department. In the month of June, the city reported 257 cases of the disease and until now this year, 516 cases have been recorded. A total of 1,184 cases of dengue have been reported in the state until July 10.
As for other seasonal diseases, from June 1, considered the beginning of the monsoon season, to July 11, Hyderabad has reported 154 cases of typhoid, 995 cases of acute diarrhoeal disease, three cases of dysentery and a single case of acute hepatitis. Across the state, a total of 2,752 cases of typhoid have been reported during this period.
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