Telangana to vaccinate 'super spreaders'; allows Covid-19 vaccination in private sector

The Telangana government has decided to launch a special drive to vaccinate all the people engaged in jobs, professions involving public interaction.

The state has categorised all the LPG delivery staff, fair price (PDS) shop dealers, petrol pump workers, auto and cab drivers, vendors in fruit, vegetable and flower, meat markets, operators of grocery stores, liquor shops, etc. as potential super-spreaders of Covid-19 infection.

On Tuesday, a meeting chaired by the state finance minister Harish Rao deliberated on the issues like identification of all such “super-spreaders” and other logistical arrangements to ensure a smooth vaccination process.

Meanwhile, the Telangana public health directorate has permitted all the designated private hospitals to carry out Covid-19 vaccination for the 18 years and above population. It has also allowed vaccination in corporate companies, institutions and gated communities. All these private bodies should register on the CoWin portal and follow the norms.

The Tuesday notification was according to the guidelines issued by the union health ministry over a month ago for vaccinations in the private sector.

On Monday, reviewing the Covid-19 situation, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed the officials to continue the process of fever survey and distribution of the medical kits to those with symptoms while ramping up the tests to curtail the virus spread in the state.

Telangana has been reporting a decline in Covid-19 infections, with the new daily case figures remaining below the four thousand-mark for over a week now. On Tuesday, when 81,203 samples were tested, the positive cases recorded were 3,821 only. The active cases, as per the official figures, stood at 38,706.