Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday announced complete lockdown of entire state till March 31, keeping in view the seriousness of the Sars-Cov-2 virus in the country.
The decision was taken at a high-level official meeting, after surfacing of five fresh Covid-19 positive cases in the state on Sunday, taking the overall positive cases in the state to 27.
“All the new positive cases are of foreign returnees – two each from London and Dubai and one from Scotland. All of them have been undergoing treatment in the government hospitals and their condition is stable,” KCR said.
The chief minister said the decision to lockdown was taken to prevent the spread of diseases from one patient to another within the state and mentioned the case of one patient who caught the infection from his Dubai returned parents.
“From today, there are no international flights landing in Hyderabad. So, there won’t be any new Covid-19 cases coming from abroad. From now on, we need to ensure that the disease does not spread to locals from those who had already arrived from foreign countries and neighbouring states,” he said.
The chief minister announced that except emergency utilities like hospitals, medical shops, milk, vegetables and provision stores, everything would be shut down. “Only one person from a family will be allowed to go out to fetch these emergency requirements. Under any circumstances, not more than five persons should be seen at any of these emergency services,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister announced that except emergency utilities like hospitals, medical shops, milk, vegetables and provision stores, everything would be shut down. “Only one person from a family will be allowed to go out to fetch these emergency requirements. Under any circumstances, not more than five persons should be seen at any of these emergency services,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister also announced free of cost 12 kg rice per person for nearly 90 lakh below poverty line (BPL) ration card holders. In all, 3.36 lakh tonnes of rice costing ₹1,103 crore would be supplied to the poor people, since they would be losing their livelihood during the lockdown period.
“In order to facilitate these poor people to buy other essentials, the government would make a direct transfer of cash of ₹1500 to each BPL ration card holder. “The total burden on the government is ₹1,314 crore,” he said.
While employees of all the essential services like health, municipality and electricity would work in full strength, only 20 per cent employees of other government departments would be asked to attend their duties every day on a rotation basis.
“All educational institutions would remain closed till March 31. Workers, outsourced staff and contract employees would be paid salaries though they don’t’ attend their duties both in public and private sectors,” he said.
The chief minister also announced closure of all inter-state borders for public and private transport, except for those bringing essential services.
“Within the state, too, buses, taxis, auto rickshaws and other private vehicles will not be allowed to ply on the roads. All hospitals will take up only emergency medical services and non-emergency surgeries would be postponed to reduce the burden on doctors,” he said.
The chief minister thanked all the people of the state for making Sunday’s ‘Janata Curfew’ a grand success and also for responding positively to the PM’s call for expressing solidarity with the doctors and allied services by clapping their hands.