Extending support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Janata curfew call, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekahara Rao on Saturday urged the people not to come out of their homes between 6 am on sunday to 6 am on Monday stating that Telangana should set an example for the rest of the country by being in the forefront in every effort to contain and tackle the spread of the deadly Corona virus.
Everyone in the state, except those who are working in police department, medical services, emergency services, fire services, and those who work to deliver milk and daily groceries, should support the Janata Curfew. The chief minister said Janata Curfew will help in maintaining social distance and this is just a beginning to eradicate Covid-19.
Rao’s appeal also comes in the wake of Telangana reporting 19 positive cases of corona, the maximum being in Karimnagar. Telanagana has a spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases since Wednesday when 10 Indonesians tested positive for the virus. In the most recent case, an 18-year old woman who returned from London was tested positive for the virus.
The chief minister said at least 21,000 people from abroad have traveled to Telangana and around 11,000 travellers from other countries were identified by the state government. He said a special task force was set up to identify any cases of corona and take necessary measures to contain and tackle the spread of virus.
A group of 10 evangelists from Indonesia were tested positive for the virus earlier. With the Indonesians testing positive, the state administration has put Karimnagar on a high alert and initiated elaborate exercise to visit houses in the locality in Karimnagar where they stayed. Nearly 50,000 people were screened for COVID-19 by special medical teams in Karimnagar.
In a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Telangana Chief Minister said people from foreign countries come to metropolitan cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in large numbers and that they need to be screened thoroughly.
On Saturday, Rao reiterated that more focus should be put on these cities and appropriate measures taken. The CM also told media on Saturday that he had suggested to the PM for temporary cancellation of international flights to the country. “Since a large number of people in the country travel by rail, tests should be conducted at the railway stations,” Rao said.
Rao said all measures have been taken in Telangana to prevent people from gathering in large numbers.
Rao also aid that he had appealed to Modi to utilise lab facilities at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad to conduct coronavirus tests.
Rao recently held a meeting with ministers, and top officials. The district collectors and police officials have been given directives to identify people who arrived from abroad after March 1 so that those having the virus symptoms could be referred to hospitals. The state government has already announced the closure of all educational institutions (from primary school to university) till March 31 and the closure of cinema halls, bars, pubs.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rao convened a “high-level emergency meeting” on preventing the spread of the virus.
The state government has already announced the closure of all educational institutions (from primary school to university) till March 31 and the closure of cinema halls, bars, pubs for a week (from March 14), among other measures.
