Telangana health official appeals to IT companies to reopen office

Hyderabad, Sep 13 : Telangana's Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao on Monday appealed to the information technology companies in the state to reopen their offices, saying they need not have any apprehensions about Covid-19.

He said the managements of the IT companies should resume work from offices as lakhs of livelihoods are indirectly dependent on them.

His appeal came as more than 90 per cent employees of the IT companies in Hyderabad continue to work from homes for over one and a half year now.

Rao said as the staff and their families are 100 per cent vaccinated, and Covid case load in the state is low, the IT companies should have no apprehensions in reopening the offices.

"We urge the managements of companies to reopen their offices. We have ensured that over 90 per cent of the support staff and workers from unorganised sector, who provide services to the IT sector in the city, were vaccinated," he said.

He said a third wave can happen only if new and more virulent variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerges and so far, there has been no evidence of this happening in Telangana.

Pointing out that the state eased Covid-19 restrictions more than three months ago, he said since then there has been no indication of any major surge of new infections. This should be a good reason for IT companies to reopen their offices, he said.

Rao said following Covid appropriate behaviour like wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, and application of hand sanitizers was enough to stave off fresh surge of Covid cases.

He also noted that it has been nearly two weeks since schools were re-opened in the state and there is no indication of a surge or even a cluster of Covid infections. "More than one lakh people have been tested for Covid in schools and only 55 children have tested positive," he said

He claimed that attendance in both government and private schools across the state is gradually improving. He assured the parents that the government has taken enough measures including vaccination to contain Covid-19.