COVID mayhem: Telangana HC directs KCR to take action or impose lockdown

The Telangana High Court directed the K. Chandrashekar Rao led-government to take a final call on imposing a night curfew or weekend lockdown within the next 48 hours. It warned the government to decide within the granted time frame, else "the court will be forced to pass orders".

Hyderabad: Amid the steep rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, the Telangana High Court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the measures adopted by the state government to arrest the spread of the deadly virus. It also directed the K. Chandrashekar Rao led-government to take a final call on imposing a night curfew or weekend lockdown within the next 48 hours.

The High Court warned the government to decide within the granted time frame, else "the court will be forced to pass orders". It asked why the government has not taken any steps to curtail election rallies, cinema halls and shopping malls that attract thousands of people at a time.

Earlier, the High Court pulled up the state government for its poor COVID-19 testing strategy and also directed to reply with the measures if the situation got worsened in the state.

KCR, who has tested positive for COVID-19 today, had participated in the videoconference organised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 8 regarding the preparation of the state for COVID-19. He directed to strictly enforce the wearing of facemasks. "If a person does not wear mask, he should be fined Rs 1,000," KCR had said.

Telangana reported 4,009 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths on Sunday, said the state health bulletin. The number of active cases in Telangana stands at 39,154. The total count of COVID positive cases in the state stands at 3,55,433 including 3,14,441 discharges and 1,838 deaths.