Addressing presspersons, Chief Minister K Chandradhekhar Rao said that there would be no kind of relaxations in the State

By | Published: 9:06 pm 1:17 am

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday announced an extension of the lockdown in Telangana till May 7 to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus in the State, even as several parts of the country prepared to ease the lockdown norms from Monday, a move seen by many as detrimental to the massive efforts to contain the virus. The extended lockdown in Telangana goes beyond the May 3 deadline announced by the Union government.

The Chief Minister said: “There is no question of any kind of relaxation in Telangana State. The State Cabinet discussed all the factors including the present status of the disease in the State.

It is a very clear and unambiguous decision based on ground realities and the need to take abundant precaution to check the virus spread after seeking the opinion of medical experts.”

Addressing the media after a six-hour Cabinet meeting at Pragathi Bhavan here, Chandrashekhar Rao said the same guidelines that were announced when the first lockdown was implemented would continue to be in force, including the night curfew, maintaining social distancing norms, ban on mass gatherings, among others. “Though the Centre decided to allow relaxations in certain sectors, State governments are empowered to take a final decision based on local conditions. The Centre has taken its decisions based on its perceptions, and we have taken the decision to extend the lockdown based on the existing situation in the State,” he added.

It may be recalled that Telangana State was among the first to go under lockdown from March 23, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nation-wide clampdown. The Chief Minister announced the lockdown across the State and ordered sealing of the State borders on March 22, at the end of the day-long ‘Janata Curfew’ called for by the Prime Minister.

Giving the status in the State, Chandrashekhar Rao said 18 new corona positive cases were reported on Sunday, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases in the State to 858. “There have been 21 deaths in the State so far, while 186 persons, after undergoing treatment, have been discharged to date. Presently, 651 persons are undergoing treatment but none of them is in critical condition,” he said, adding that four of the 33 districts were completely free of coronavirus. Of the 450 persons who were tested on Sunday, only 18 turned out to be positive for the virus, he said.

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet decision was taken after extensive surveys carried out by the government and the media indicated that an overwhelming majority of the people were in favour of continuing with the lockdown. “About 95 per cent of the people contacted during the surveys were firm on continuing with the lockdown in the interest of the people of the State. I myself spoke over phone to a cross section of society across the State including laywers, doctors, youngsters, farmers and even labourers, and all of them were unanimous in their opinion that the lockdown should continue. In fact, they had a counter query for me seeking to know if the prevalence of infection in the State had gone down to justify lifting or easing the lockdown norms. The people are very clear that there should be no compromise on this count,” he said.

Striking a positive note, Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that the present batch of corona positive patients who were undergoing treatment were expected to recover by May 1. “There may be some fresh cases during the intervening period but the possibility of the curve taking a dip seems high, and we hope it will remain that way. The extension of the lockdown is to ensure that the people of the State are protected against the virus,” he said, and pointed out that several countries which had relaxed the lockdown norms had paid a price and had to revert to lockdown again. “There are 42 nations across the globe that are under complete lockdown now,” he added.

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet will meet again on May 5 and take a call on the lockdown based on the situation prevailing then.

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