HYDERABAD: A nine-month-old baby from Choutuppal tested positive for Covid-19 at the Niloufer Hospital on Wednesday. Hospital superintendent Dr T Usha Rani said that the baby was currently stable.
Meanwhile, Health Minster Damodar Rajanarasimha asked the public not to believe in rumours and that the JN.1 variant of Covid-19 was not dangerous. He called upon citizens to wear masks in crowded places and take precautions like maintaining physical distance.
At a review meeting on Covid-19 at the Secretariat on Wednesday, the minister asked the people to go in for either RAT (rapid antigen test) or RT- PCR (real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) test, if they have any symptoms. He said that the death rate due to JN.1 variant was low.
The minister said that special wards have been set up at government hospital for genome sequencing. He said that required number of kits were available for Covid-19 tests. “Oxygen plants are functioning at full capacity’ there was no shortage of beds,” he said. The minister said that so far, no Covid-19 death was reported from the state.
The two deaths in Osmania hospital on Tuesday were due to chronic ailments and not related to Covid-19, he said. Of the two children tested positive, one death was due to genetic disorder, the minister said.
The remaining children were being treated and they would be discharged shortly. Meanwhile, Osmania General Hospital superintendent Dr B Nagender conducted a meeting to coordinate the management of Covid-19 patients in the hospital.
He informed that a nodal officer from the general medicine department is nominated to coordinate the situation in the hospital. The OGH superintendent instructed staffers to ensure that Covid-19 norms are followed in the hospital.
The existing facility will be expanded as and when there is an increase in demand, Dr Nagender said.