No lockdown in Telangana again, Eatala Rajender confirms

Lockdown in Telangana: Telangana health minister Eatala Rajender on Friday confirmed that no total lockdown will be imposed again in the state and the fight against coronavirus will continue for at least one year. It is known that the state has been witnessing a spike in the cases for the last two weeks.

He also said that the state government has a moral responsibility to the affected people. He went on to say that private labs only confirm if you have tested positive or negative. But the government has to take the responsibility to treat the person and trace his contacts to contain the virus spread, he added.

Reacting on the surge of coronavirus cases, the minister said that one should also look on the recovered cases and lowest mortality rate. Telangana has 2.02 per cent mortality rate and the recovery rate is more than 50 per cent. Rajender denied the allegations over low tests in the state. According to the ICMR guidelines, tests should be held only on symptomatic and their contacts, he said adding that the government is not convinced over rapid tests.

"Rapid tests have 30 per cent accuracy rate. From the beginning, the government is doing RT-PCR tests that have better accuracy," the minister said.