Hyderabad shutdown from July 3?

Hyderabad Lockdown: The Telangana Cabinet is likely to meet on July 1 or 2 to take a final call on the imposition of lockdown in the city. According to sources, the government has in principle decided to impose a 15-day shutdown from July 3.

The officials are said to be in the process of giving finishing touches to the new 'safety protocols,' to be followed during the 15-day lockdown.

On the other hand, the government has decided to make available round-the-clock swab sample collection facility for patients at the Government General Hospital in King Koti, apart from other designated government hospitals where sample collection will be done throughout the day.

However, experts feel that the lockdown is the only option now available to the government since the situation is scary. The lockdown this time will be different from what we had seen recently.

The new protocols may include issuing of passes to those who would go out of high risk zones. Restrictions are likely to be very strict in the areas where the spread of the virus is rampant.

It is also considering imposing curfew from 7 pm to 7 am and closing all business establishments, except medical shops and shops selling essential commodities.

Once again all liquor shops will be closed. While the closure of all business establishments would once again affect the economy, the government is considering to keep open the Stamps and Registration offices and Transport department facilities.

But the question is while the lockdown is under force, who would visit them?

The IT department had already been asked to study the workforce attendance in the IT and ITES offices and the spread of coronavirus, if any, after the government permitted 50 per cent of the IT staff to attend the office.

Various reports submitted to the government indicate that the people failed to follow safety precautions leading to a surge in Covid cases.

They feel that if self-discipline was there things would have been different. Once the lockdown was lifted, they had started moving as if situation was back to normal. There have been no measures to create awareness among the people on the risk involved if protocols were violated.

The local authorities like municipalities in urban areas and panchayats in villages will be held responsible for the containment of the spread of virus. The creation of containment zones again is also on the cards.

The government feels that the virus spread cannot be contained without creating containment zones. After the relaxation of norms in June first week, the government stopped the constitution of containment zones in Hyderabad and also in the districts.