The State Government has extended the ongoing lockdown till May 31.
The decision comes in the light of the Central government’s announcement of extension of the lockdown till May 31 on Sunday. The Telangana government had earlier announced the lockdown till May 29 and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the decision was taken to extend the lockdown after examining various aspects. The Chief Minister said the State Cabinet which met here on Monday examined the guidelines released by the Ministry of Home Affairs relating to the relaxations that had been allowed.
It was therefore decided to declare all other areas, except the containment zones, as green zones and allow opening up of economic activities in these areas. The government after technical analysis had decided that 1,452 families in the containment areas would continue to be in the red zone. These areas would be treated as hotspots and restrictions like no inward/outward movement would continue to be in force with police continuing their strict vigil in these areas. Supply of essentials to these families would continue at their doorstep as usual.
The Chief Minister expressed concern that there was no clarity as to when the pandemic would end. It had therefore inevitable to learn to live with the virus. People should accordingly take all necessary precautions to ensure that they were not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government on its part could not stop economic activities for months together and had decided to allow opening of all shops in all other areas, except for Hyderabad. In respect of the State Capital, the GHMC administration would take decisions relating to allowing shops to open on alternate days depending on the situation.
The TSRTC would start operation of buses in the green zones after taking precautions like sanitisation on regular basis but operation of city services and inter-State buses would continue to be suspended. Taxis would be allowed to ply with 1+3 configuration, a driver and three passengers while autorickshaws would ply with driver and two passengers.
The government had decided to allow e-commerce businesses and opening of shops in all areas, except zones declared as hotspots. The government and private establishments would also be allowed to function 100 % after taking the prescribed precautions.
