Telangana extends Corona night curfew until May 15, imposes fresh caps on people at weddings, funerals

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New Delhi: The Telangana government on Friday (May 7) imposed some more curbs across the state in view of a surge in deadly coronavirus COVID-19 cases. According to the government notifications, the night curfew will remain into effect from 9 pm to 5 am for seven more days, until May 15.

The government notified that a maximum of 100 people will be allowed at weddings, with complete observation of all COVID-19 protocols. On the other hand, 20 people will be allowed to attend funerals. 

The development comes a day after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao clarified that lockdown would not be imposed in the state as it would bring life to a standstill and lead to the total collapse of the financial system. CM Rao took this decision after examining states where lockdowns were in place and positive cases did not come down, along with past experiences.

"There is no use of imposing lockdown. 25 to 30 Lakh workers from other states are working here. We have seen how their lives were adversely impacted by the lockdown during the first wave," he said. He further mentioned the 'bumper yield' of the paddy in the State which is stocked in 6,144 procurement centres in the state.

Earlier on May 6, CM KCR also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone about the supply of required vaccines, oxygen and Remdesivir and urged him to supply the same immediately and brought to notice that oxygen allocated to the state from Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu) and Bellary (Karnataka) had not been supplied so far. Rao explained that since people from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka were coming to Hyderabad for treatment, the burden on the city`s healthcare infrastructure had increased.

At a high-level COVID-review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan, the CM made an in-depth review on the pandemic situation with regards to bed availability, and other necessary medical supplies. He informed that there are currently 9,500 beds with oxygen in government hospitals and wanted 5,000 more to be added within a week all over the state. He also instructed the Chief Secretary to make arrangements to airlift 12 cryogenic tankers from China for better oxygen supply at a cost of Rs 1 crore each.

He added that 5,980 Covid outpatient centres had been created all over the state in PHCs, community hospitals and area hospitals.