Telangana CM KC Rao urges PM Modi to extend lockdown till 1st week of June

Telangana CM KC Rao urges PM Modi to extend lockdown till 1st week of June

As confusion around the extension of the lockdown continues to trouble people, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the lockdown beyond April 14 to so that the spread of coronavirus in India can be contained.

"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," Rao said.

Notably, he's the first chief minister to make such appeal to the PM.

"Due to the 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," he explained.

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

In a related news, the first case of coronavirus in the Hyderabad police department was reported on Tuesday. A Head Constable, working for Saifabad police station tested positive for the virus. Following the development, 12 members of staff of the police station were sent to quarantine.

The police department is also checking if any senior officers have come in contact with the affected cop.

On Monday, 30 new positive cases were reported from Telangana, taking the total of positives to 308.

A total of 4,281 cases have been detected in India so far, out of which, 111 people lost their lives.