Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao urges PM Modi to extend lockdown to contain coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Telangana CM said, " I'm requesting the PM to talk to all CMs and take a call to extend the nationwide lockdown up to the first week of June, otherwise we cannot control coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday (April 6) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further extend the lockdown beyond April 14 to contain the outbreak coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. 

Chandrasekhar Rao, who is the first Chief Minister to make this appeal to the PM, stated, "due to congregation of Tablighi Jamaat members in Nizamuddin Markaz, several cases of COVID-19 are emerging and Telangana too is witnessing many new cases because of Jammat. In such a situation, there is no way but to extend the lockdown."

Telangana CM further said, " I'm requesting the PM to talk to all CMs and take a call to extend the nationwide lockdown up to the first week of June, otherwise we cannot control coronavirus pandemic. Even a small country like Singapore is extending lockdown for one more month. Ours is a huge country."

"We can recover the economy, but not lives. Our only weapon is a lockdown, we are not above the UK," said Chandrashekhar Rao. 

Notably, the nation-wide COVID-19 death toll has so far reached 111 with 4,281 confirmed cases. Of these, at least 1,445 have been found to be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, the Union health ministry said. 

The ministry's update today said that 76 per cent cases have been reported in males and 24 per cent in females, adding that the number of people who came in contact with Tablighi Jamaat members is with about 25,500.

Out of total 2083 identified foreigners, 1750 have been blacklisted, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry. 

Notably, Maharashtra leads with the maximum number of coronavirus cases, followed by Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The total number of COVID-19 infections in India has crossed 4,000 mark with 693 new cases and 32 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, first coronavirus case was reported in Hyderabad police of Telangana. A Head Constable, working with the Saifabad Police Station became COVID-19 positive in test. The police department also sent 12 other members to quarantine. The police department is also checking if any senior officers have also come in contact with the infected cop.