Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday announced that cinema halls, bars, swimming pools, gyms, malls and other public places will need to stay shut until March 31 as a precautionary measure against coronavirus. Previously, public places needed to stay shut until March 21.
The CM said that the government will not give permission for any public gatherings like seminars, rallies etc. He also appealed to religious heads to close down their places of worship and asked devotees not to congregate. The state has already cancelled the celebrations of Sri Rama Navami and Ugadi. “There will be only live streaming of Ugadi. There won’t be any celebrations,” KCR said, addressing the media. “Our best protection is not to congregate,” he said.
On Thursday, another patient who returned from Dubai, tested positive for coronavirus. According to officials, the patient had come to Hyderabad on March 14; developed signs and symptoms of the disease on March 17; following which he was promptly isolated and tests carried out. The Health department said that they have traced contacts and put them under home quarantine while the flight passenger details are awaited.
In the wake of the rising number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, which is the neighbouring state of Telangana, the Chief Minister has announced that they have created 18 check posts in the bordering districts of the state, and everyone entering the state would be screened. “All other state vehicles would be checked and foreigners would be sent for quarantine,” he said.
This measure was taken after seven Indonesian nationals, who were infected, had come to the state from Delhi via train. These patients had spent two days in Karimnagar district at a mosque. The government has locked down the area within 3 km radius of the mosque and is carrying out door-to-door surveillance to identify those exposed to the disease.
The government has also decided to identify all those who had returned from abroad since March 1 -- regardless of which country they came from -- and to keep them on home quarantine. A district coordination committee comprising police superintendents, district collectors and district medical health officers has been constituted for this exercise. Gram panchayat officers, municipal officers and village police along with intelligence officers would help in identifying the foreign returnees, the CM announced.
“All those who returned from foreign countries should inform their respective district collectors and remain in home quarantine,” the CM said.
The Chief Minister also expressed his angst against the Union government for not closing services of International flights at once. “Why wait till March 22? I am surprised that they haven’t stopped the services promptly,” KCR said, adding that he will raise this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Friday's video conference, in which CMs of all states would be participating.
Speaking about the SSC examinations being held amidst the crisis, the CM said that the examination centres will be highly sanitised. At least five lakh students are appearing for their exams.
The CM affirmed that the super markets, malls with essentials and kirana stores would remain open as usual, but appealed to the owners of these shops to regulate the crowd and sanitise their premises regularly. He said that so far there was no case of black marketers trying to exploit the situation by manufacturing shortage.