Telangana government now weighs against lockdown

Hyderabad: The State government is in a dilemma on the issue of imposing lockdown. Though some had suggested that lockdown should be imposed again, the government after serious discussions with ministers, officials and others is now said to believe that the lockdown cannot be the solution to stop the surge in the number of Covid cases.

Another lockdown could once again bring the wheel of economy to a screeching halt affecting not only the government revenue but also would affect all other sectors. Hence the government is now considering other options to contain the spread of Corona in the state particularly in Hyderabad which had been registering not less than 900 cases every day.

The measures under consideration are limited access to business establishments in the corona-infected zones and controlling people's movement in the busy areas. Sources now said that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was not keen to impose a complete lockdown as a majority of positive cases are not serious in nature and most of them are asymptomatic.

Measures like house quarantine and seeking medical advice from the districts, and creating awareness among the people on precautions to be taken would be a better alternative. People have also started going for tests voluntarily. It may be recalled that at a review meeting held last week, KCR hinted at a two-week lockdown to break the Covid-19 chain in view of steep increase in the number of positive cases. He even said that a final decision would be taken after Cabinet meeting on July 1 or 2.

The Health department is said to have given a report that the situation in the Old City and abutting areas was improving following the restrictions on people's movement. If need be the administration could impose more restrictions in the Old City if the cases continue to rise this week. The growing number of cases in some districts was also causing concern. In view of this, municipal authorities in districts have instructed traders to shut the shops by 4 pm in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts where new cases were reported this week. Similarly, the government feels that restrictions could be imposed in areas where cases are more rather than go in for lockdown.