Telangana Extends COVID-19 Lockdown Till April 30th

HYDERABAD: As widely anticipated, the Telangana government late on Saturday night decided to extend the Coronavirus lockdown in the state until April 30th as a further preventive step to contain the dreaded virus. The decision was taken at a special meeting of the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao.

Addressing the media after a long cabinet meeting at Pragati Bhavan, KCR announced the decision to extend the lockdown till April 30th. He renewed his appeal to the people of Telangana to fully cooperate with the government, authorities and police and asked them to strictly adhere to social distancing. He said social gatherings will not be allowed at any cost.

Exempting food processing units from the shutdown restrictions, KCR said that these units would be allowed to function normally. About the farming sector, the chief minister said that the irrigation department would provide irrigation water until April 15th.

The Telangana chief minister expressed the hope that the lockdown could be eased in phases after April 30th after assessing the situation at that time. He expressed optimism that the spread of coronavirus could be effectively contained by month end and the extension of lockdown was taken based on this perception.

Addressing the concerns of students and parents, KCR said that students from Class 1st to 9th will be automatically promoted without examinations. On the SSC examinations, which were postponed midway through due to the imposition of lockdown, the chief minister said that that a decision on the this would be taken very soon.

The chief minister said that a total of 503 coronavirus positive cases have been recorded in the state. There are 393 active patients of COVID-19 in the state which has so far witnessed the deaths of 14 people. He said about 1200 people -- those who attended the Nizamuddin Markaz religious event and their relatives -- have been identified and were subjected to medical tests.

Besides this, 1654 people are being quarantined. Claiming that the number of new cases is on the decline, he said the extension of lockdown will help the government and the poeple of the state in successfully arresting the spread of the virus. He thanked the people for their cooperation in this regard.

In fact, KCR was one of the first among the Chief Ministers of India to make a strong pitch for the lockdown extension a few days ago. Addressing the media then, he categorically stated that lifting the lockdown so soon without fully curbing the Coronavirus spread could prove catastrophic. He came up with examples of how most advanced countries like the United States of America, Italy and Spain are clueless about combating the killer contagion.

KCR had personally appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to lift the lockdown so soon, he said on a cautious note that people’s lives become the utmost priority and it takes precedence over even the economy that collapsed due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

After KCR’s open statement, six other states joined the chorus pressing the Centre for extending the lockdown period for some more time. Even the Centre appeared to have dropped enough hints that the situation is not conducive for the lifting of the lockdown in the country and whatever needs to be done, should be done in a phased manner.

All religious programmes, mass gatherings in the state will not be allowed to contain the spread of dread virus.

All food processing units in the state will be operational , said KCR Adressing the concerns of farmers in the state, KCR said that Irrigation department would provide water unil April 15.

Also Read: T COVID-19 App: Telangana’s One-Stop Solution To All Info On Coronavirus