Lockdown In Telangana?

The Telangana state Cabinet will be holding an important meeting today at 2 pm to decide whether the government should impose a lockdown in Telangana to control the spread of COVID-19. There is currently a night curfew going on in the state from 9 pm to 5 am until the 15^th of May.

Announcing that the state government will review its lockdown decision, the Chief Minister’s Office said that, “There are reports that advice that despite certain states imposing the lockdown, there is no decrease in Covid cases.”

It further read, “Against this backdrop, different opinions are rising on the lockdown decision. Some are arguing in favor of the imposition of lockdown and some against it. Under these circumstances, the state cabinet would discuss the pros and cons of the lockdown and it will make a final decision.”

While several southern states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have imposed a lockdown to decrease the surge of COVID-19 cases, Telangana has rejected such a possibility, due to loss of revenue. Recently, KCR had recovered from COVID-19 and held a review meeting with officials regarding the current health crisis and said that the government has no plans for a lockdown as the result it will affect both public life as well as the state's economy.

According to CM, Telangana is the most happening state, with about 25 to 30 lakh migrant laborers surviving their livelihood, and their lives were ruined during the first lockdown in 2020. If these workers are dislocated once again, it will be a huge loss to Telangana as the state needs a huge number of workers during the harvesting season.

Following a suggestion from the Telangana High Court, the state government, however imposed a night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am until the 15^th of May. Meanwhile, Telangana state reported 4,826 cases on May 10 and 32 deaths due to COVID-19.