Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, April 19

The Telangana Government has decided to extend the lockdown to check spread of COVID-19 till May 7.

The proposal for the same was put before the Council of Ministers by Chief Minister K Chandershekhar Rao (KCR), which was unanimously accepted.

The chief minister has said that by this date all containment zones would complete their 14 days mandatory isolation.

The chief minister said after May 14 any new subsequent containment zone would be taken as one-off unit for the purpose of containment.

At the same time the state has decided not to permit various agencies for e-deliveries and door-to-door delivery of food and parcels in order to prevent the likely spread of COVID-19 through transmission, till the period of lockdown.

Council of Ministers also requested the homeowners and landlords to defer collecting of rent from the tenants for a period of three months with effect from March 2020.

This would be applicable on for premises rented for residential purpose in view of the hardship caused by the lockdown.

At the same time in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh (AP), the doctors have set a record by conducting 5,508 COVID -19 tests per day taking the second place among states conducting maximum number of COVID-19 tests per million.

This was revealed at a review meeting held by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The doctors could achieve the record on Friday even without using the rapid test kits by completely concentrating on the tests, said the officials.

This would be intensified in 10 days by conducting over 17,500 tests per day for which necessary arrangements have been made with the steps being initiated in Kurnool, Guntur, Krishna and Nellore districts where the virus is widespread.

However, one more person died of coronavirus while 44 new positive cases were registered in Andhra Pradesh during last 24 hours, officials said on Sunday.

The latest fatality was reported from Kurnool district, taking the death toll in the state to 17. According to the health department, 44 tested positive since Saturday, taking the overall number of cases to 647.

A total of 65 patients have so far been discharged after recovery. The number of active cases stands at 565.

In Telangana the total number COVID-19 cases has touched 809 with 18 deaths so far.