T’gana extends lockdown till May 29

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Tuesday announced extension of lockdown till May 29, notwithstanding the extension declared by the Union government till May 17 to contain the spread of Covid-19 across the country.

A decision to this effect was taken at the seven-hour long state cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao said the decision to extend the lockdown in Telangana till May 29 was taken with a view to ensuring that the entire state would come out of the Covid-19 by then.

“As per the Central government guidelines, six districts – Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medchal, Vikarabad, Suryapet and Warangal (urban) are in red zones. While 18 districts are in orange zone, nine others are in green zone. In another 11 districts, all the 18 orange zone districts would turn into green zones,” KCR said.

Out of six red zone districts, three districts would also turn into orange zones. The remaining three districts- Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal are still in danger zones, as they account for 66 % of the total number of positive cases and 86 % of the deaths due to Covid-19.

“So, we want to implement lockdown in these areas; hence, we have decided to extend lockdown till May 29 so as to safeguard the state from the dreaded disease,” KCR said.

“Starting Wednesday, construction activity can resume. Cement and steel dealers can restart their shops. So will be hardware, electrical, agrilculture-related shops ,” he said.