Rising Covid numbers force lockdown in Telangana

Naveen S Garewal 

Tribune News Service 

Hyderabad, May 11

Within days of ruling out the imposition of lockdown in Telangana by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), the state cabinet in its meeting on Tuesday took a decision to impose a 10-day lockdown from midnight tonight. People will be given a few hours in the morning to buy essentials, otherwise everything has been shut down. 

Despite the fact that one of the two vaccines being administered in India is being produced in the state, Telangana is facing a huge shortage of vaccines as the COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Yesterday, Telangana blocked entry of ambulance that were ferrying patients from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, because Telangana does not have enough space for its own. 

The Telangana High Court has pulled up the state for blocking the highways between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. A division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy questioned the state and asked why ambulances were stopped at the Telangana border despite not having any inter-state regulations in place, terming it as ‘unconstitutional’ and a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. 

Given various factors, including the questioning by the High Court over not taking adequate measure like enforcing night curfew and ensuring COVID-19 protocols, the Telangana Government has announced a lockdown to prevent further spread of coronavirus.  

According to a state official, the state cabinet decided to clamp a lockdown from 10 am on May 12 (Wednesday) for 10 days. “However, there would be relaxation for all the activities from 6 am to 10 am daily,” it said.  

In the past 24 hours, the number of cases of corona infections crossed half a million as 4,826 fresh cases were added while the toll stood at 2,771 with 35 more casualties. The cabinet also decided to invite global tenders for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine, the official said. 

Soon after the announcement people rushed to markets, fruit and vegetable markets, and wine shops to accumulate stocks of food and drinks for the next ten days. There were many road blocks due to this, forcing the police to come onto roads to manage traffic and people gathering without maintaining social distance. 

Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh is already in a partial lockdown for the last one week for the most part of the day, except for a few hours in the morning to allow people to buy their daily needs. There is no activity between 12 noon to 6 am the next day.