Live Updates: Hyderabad, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh News Today 4 January 2022

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as part of his Delhi tour met Union Roads and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and discussed road constructions in the state and expansion of national highways. YS Jagan has reportedly asked the Union Minister to undertake the construction of four-lane roads along the coastal area. Apart from these, discussions were said to be held with the Union Minister on the construction of the Visakhapatnam-Bhogapuram National Highway and the construction of the Vijayawada East Highway. The CM handed over a memorandum to Gadkari seeking immediate approval for pending projects.Read more

Telangana: In a research on the spread of Omicron, the new variant of coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) will launch sero-prevalence survey today in Telangana. The officials will collect the blood samples from people and health care workers in every district and examine SARS Cov-2, IgG antibodies to assess the extent of community spread of the infection.The door-to-door survey will cover 330 villages in all the districts in the state. According to Dr Avula Laxmaiah, Scientist and Head, Public Health Nutrition Division, ICMR-NIN, the survey will cover 16,000 people. "10 villages will be selected randomly from all the 33 districts and from each village, the samples of 40 people above six years of age will be taken," he said. ICMR-NIN director Dr Hemalatha said that 20 teams will hold the survey in Telangana and will be completed in three weeks.

The police on Monday arrested seven members of two gangs who were selling fake tickets for Tirumala Srivari Darshan at high rates. The accused also included an SPF constable. In one case, SPF constable M. Krishna Rao, who was on duty in Vaikuntham-1, Arun Raju, who was working at the Tirumala laddu counter, Balaji, who was working at a travel agency in Tirupati, Narendra, who was working at the Tirumala special entrance counter, were arrested, and in another case Chengareddy, Devendra Prasad, and Venkat were arrested. According to police, members of the SPF constable gang sold special darshan tickets to Jitendra Kumar Soni and his friends, who came from Madhya Pradesh on Sunday for Rs 21,000.Read more