Lockdown Extension decision after PM Modi's meet with all states CMs tomorrow

Hyderabad: The Telangana government is likely to announce the extension of lockdown till the end of April after the video conference the Prime Minister would have with Chief Ministers of all states on Saturday.

Following the announcement by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik extending the lockdown till April end, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reviewed the situation and enquired about the status of the Corona positive cases and steps being taken to contain it. The government is confident that the number of positive cases will come down in a week.

The government on Wednesday earmarked 12 areas as containment clusters where nearly 150 positive cases were identified. This measure would help in containing the spread of virus, officials feel.

It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister had about three days back itself expressed his opinion that the lockdown should be extended and said he had already suggested the same to the Prime Minister.

Officials have already started making necessary arrangements to tackle any emergency that may arise out of Covid-19 situation. All wings are being geared up to ensure that the extension of lockdown was effectively implemented. Despite the best efforts being made by the police to check the movement of people, and in spite of so much information available through print and electronic media, still it appears that the people are lacking seriousness and are either violating rules and coming out of houses particularly during morning hours.

While some philanthropic organisations are pitching in to help the poor by supplying food, social distancing is being ignored. Even those who serve food are not covering face with masks and they are left hanging around their neck. When police stops people travelling by car or two wheeler they come up with all kinds of stories that they are going to hospital to see their relative admitted there or some other such excuse. It is these issues the police has been asked to address and ensure that the lockdown rules are implemented strictly.