Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has exuded confidence that the State will soon join the ranks of those declared coronavirus-free if the significant decline in COVID-19 positive cases is any indication.
The Chief Minister said the government is firm on continuing the ongoing lockdown till May 7 as Telangana is set to see a rapid decline in the spread of the virus as well as the number of affected persons. He requested citizens to continue to extend their cooperation in letter and spirit to help the government successfully tackle the virus and ensure safety of public health in the State.
Illustrating the progress made by the State, he said as many as 21 districts are set to be placed in the category of districts with no COVID-positive cases. There was significant progress in checking the impact of the virus in the State as it has witnessed 97% of the affected people recovering and being discharged from the hospitals. Equally impressive was the decline in the number of containment zones over the past few days.
The Chief Minister reviewed the situation in the State during a marathon meeting with senior officials after participating in the video conference conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The meeting was convened to review measures initiated for treating the affected people, relief operations as well as the impact of lockdown.
Officials concerned informed the Chief Minister about the steep reduction in the number of positive cases over the past few days. Only two of the 159 samples tested on Monday tested positive while 16 were discharged after being treated/cured. Mr. Rao said the strict implementation of lockdown has helped the State check the spread of the virus.
Stating that the virus spread to different parts of the State because of the persons who attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi, Mr. Rao said the government had succeeded in identifying all the links of the Markaz returnees and steps had been taken to conduct tests on all of them.
Coupled with these were the cases relating to people who returned from abroad and the government effectively tackled such cases with the help of the police and health departments. There was no cause of concern as the trends indicated that there was rapid decline in the impact of the virus across the State.
The government, however, continues to be alert and has, accordingly, kept the health administration ready to tackle the situation in case of an increase in the number of positive cases. As many as 332 out of the 1,003 COVID-positive cases detected so far had been discharged. Ten districts — Mulugu, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Narayanpet, Warangal Rural, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Mahbubabad, Siddipet and Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri — had zero positive cases while another 11 districts including Jagtial, Jangaon, Peddapally, Sangareddy, Bhupalpalli, Kamareddy and Mahbubnagar were set to become districts without incidence of any cases from Tuesday.
Four areas, including the GHMC limits, Suryapet, Jogulamba-Gadwal and Vikarabad, reported high incidence of the virus-affected people while the impact was nominal in other areas. There were no positive cases in a majority of circles across the GHMC limits with few circles reporting zero active cases in the corporation. As a result, the areas declared as containment zones were becoming free of the virus.