Complete Lockdown in Majority Southern States after Telangana Joins the List; Andhra Pradesh Continues; Partial Clampdown

India: The Telangana state government led by CM KCR announced a 10-day lockdown starting from tomorrow.  The state government has decided to put curbs in place from May 12 to curtail further spread of the second wave, an official release said. Relaxation of all the activities from 6 AM to 10 Am daily is announced. 

CMO’s tweet also stated,” The Council of Ministers has also decided to invite global tenders for procuring Covid19 vaccine.” The decision is at variance with Chief Minister KCR’s earlier stand, as pointed out by Asaduddin Owaisi in a tweet today, that there will be no lockdown as it results in financial stagnation. Earlier in the day, Bhatti Vikrmarka, Congress Legislature Party leader, had demanded that a 14-day lockdown be imposed in the state. 

After videos of a humongous crowd at the historic Charminar flooded social media, the government declared a ban on large gatherings and imposed a night curfew. 

From tomorrow, apart from Andhra – where there is a partial curfew – all other southern states would be in lockdown. There is a lockdown in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka till May 24. In Kerala, the shutdown period is till May 16. 

 Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao had initially resisted calls for a comprehensive lockdown. In a statement last week, he had argued against imposing strict movement curbs saying that it would hit the livelihoods of a large number of people.