Covid-19: Telangana imposes 10-day lockdown from May 12

All activities will remain permissible across Telangana from 6am to 10am daily, following which only essential activities will be allowed for the remainder of the lockdown.

Telangana government, led by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, on Tuesday, announced a 10-day statewide lockdown in view of the sudden surge in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases. The lockdown will be implemented from tomorrow (i.e. May 12, Wednesday) till May 22. However, there would be relaxation for all the activities from 6am to 10am daily, following which only essential activities will be allowed for the remainder of the Covid-19 lockdown, the Telangana chief minister's office (CMO) said. The complete guidelines regarding the Telangana lockdown shall be issued shortly, people familiar with the development said.

Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar shows medicines being distributed to people to fight coronavirus, at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Friday. (ANI Photo)

The Telangana government on Tuesday held a high-level meeting to decide on whether a statewide lockdown was necessary, in view of the Covid-19 situation. For this purpose, top state officials, under the chairmanship of the chief minister, held a meeting to discuss arguments for and against a complete lockdown, the Telangana CMO said. Notably, the development comes days after the Telangana government said last week that it will not impose a lockdown -- partial or total -- to contain the spread of coronavirus, as it will lead to the collapse of the financial system in the state.

Highlighting the matter of the Telangana lockdown, the CMO's official Twitter handle posted, "The opinion is divided among people on the question of imposing a lockdown. Some reports suggest that the number of Covid-19 cases has not come down in some of the Indian states despite the clamping of lockdown whereas some sections argue in favour of lockdown."