Hyderabad news live: Vaccine drive hits hesitancy hurdle

The TRS state executive is meeting here on Sunday amid a growing buzz that TRS working president KT Rama Rao could soon be elevated to chief minister. The meeting, to be attended by leaders and elected representatives from the district to state levels, will be chaired by TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The growing demand for an in-house office or classroom, has led to a new trend in Hyderabad’s property market -- two-and-half bedrooms-cum-hall-cumkitchen homes. With work or schoolfrom-home becoming the new normal in the postpandemic era, several developers from the city are redesigning their projects to accommodate two-andhalf bedroom units, along with the conventional 2BHKs and 3BHKs. Most say, these homes are flying off the shelves faster than the rest.

With the Centre giving very little to Telangana in the Union Budget, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has asked the officials to prioritise funds for sectors like welfare and irrigation in the state budget for 2021-22 financial year and cut down unnecessary expenditure. He also asked the officials to speed up revenue mobilisation measures like auctioning government land parcels in Hyderabad as the state is set to net 20 per cent to 30 per cent less than the estimated revenues. The CM was speaking at a review meeting with finance and irrigation officials on the budget preparation for the second day on Friday.

Health minister Eatala Rajender on Friday said that the Aarogyasri and Ayushman Bharat schemes will be implemented in the state in the next financial year. Addressing the media, the minister said that Aarogyasri scheme has nearly 26 lakh beneficiaries whereas the Ayushman Bharat scheme has 80 lakh beneficiaries. “Soon, we will work out a plan to implement both,” he said.

Telangana reported 169 new Covid-19 infections on Friday and one death, taking the overall caseload to 2,95,270 and toll to 1,607. Altogether 1,964 patients are under treatment but with an improving recovery rate in the state, which is nearly 99%. So far, a total of 80,34,038 Covid-19 tests have been conducted in the state and 2,91,699 persons have recovered.

Vaccine hesitancy seems to have affected the vaccination drive againstCovid-19in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh if the official data is any indication. Initially, though the Telugu states performed well, a few cases of adverse reaction and four suspected vaccination deaths resulted in many healthcare workers preferring to stay away from the vaccination drive.