KCR calls for 24-hour shutdown

Hyderabad: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a call to the nation to observe 14-hour self-imposed curfew on Sunday christened as Janata Curfew, the state government has gone a step ahead and decided to continue the curfew by another 10 hours -- from Sunday 6 am to Monday 6 am. At a press conference on Saturday, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said that the State was fully geared up to face the challenge and if need be would impose a total lockdown in case if there is any rise in the severity of spread of the virus.

The Chief Minister reviewed the situation on Saturday with top officials in view of the first primary contact case was found in Telangana.

The CM said except essential services like medical, power, milk and vegetable supplies and petrol bunks, all other services, including public and private transportation, malls, shops, hotels and other business establishments will be shut for 24 hours, the Chief Minister urged people to join the noble cause and make the 24-hour self-imposed curfew a success.

"People should display the spirit of Telangana like they had shown during the Telangana movement and play a role model in observing the self-isolation by every citizen in the country," he said. Fire services, drinking water supply, drainage and sewerage services were also considered as emergency services. Wine shops will also remain closed.

Assuring the people that the Government was doing all that was necessary to contain the spread of the virus, he said a five-member official team headed by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar will monitor the intensity of the spread of deadly virus from time to time. KCR said that as contingency plan like provision of five buses in every RTC depot and five Metro trains was also being arranged for emergency transportation needs in the districts and in Hyderabad during the Janata Curfew time.

He appealed all people with foreign travel history to undergo medical tests since all the positive cases were reported from this community. Nearly 20,000 people came to Telangana from different countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

After a group of Indonesians were found infected during their visit to Karimnagar, the government took all measures to quarantine every foreigner visiting Telangana for two weeks. 11,000 joint teams and 5,274 surveillance teams were formed to identify the foreign travel history persons living in villages and the towns.

KCR said the Government was ready to spend liberally to contain the spread of the virus. He called upon the people to be equally responsible and report any information they have to the helpline or authorities dealing with it.