E-Paper
Andhra Pradesh extends partial lockdown till May 31
Andhra chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to ensure the number of Covid-19 positive cases do not go up in rural areas of the state.
The Andhra Pradesh government has extended the partial lockdown clamped in the state to contain Covid-19 cases till May 31. The decision was taken on Monday afternoon at a meeting held by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office in Amaravati.
The partial lockdown resembling a curfew for 18 hours a day was first imposed on May 5 and was supposed to end on May 18. But this has now been extended till the month end. The curfew timings, from 12 noon to 6 am the following day, remain unchanged.
Andhra Pradesh reported 24,171 Covid-19 positive cases on Sunday, the highest daily count since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. It also reported 101 deaths in the same period. The state’s daily infections are the fifth highest after Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The chief minister’s office said an extension of the curfew was inevitable to get the desired results. “It has only been 12 days since we imposed the curfew. It should be in force at least for four weeks,” CM Jagan said.
He also directed officials to ensure the number of Covid-19 positive cases do not go up in rural areas of the state and asked them to use ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist), village volunteers and village secretariat mechanism to reign-in the crisis.
He also announced that children orphaned by Covid-19 will be taken care of by the state government and a financial scheme will be worked out to help them.
“We shall deposit a certain amount in the name of the children and the interest accrued from the deposit could be utilised to meet their expenses every month,” the chief minister suggested.
