Coronavirus / Telangana to be coronavirus free by April 7 if no new cases emerge: KCR

Hyderabad: Telangana may come out of the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of April first week, provided there are no fresh cases with symptoms of the disease, chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at Pragati Bhavan after a video-conference with district officials, KCR said all 25,937 people who had been quarantined and were under surveillance by the state medical and health department authorities would be completing their 14-day quarantine period by April 7.

“Starting with 1,899 people on Monday, these people would be declared safe in a phased manner every day and by April 7, all of them would be cleared of Covid-19. These quarantined people include foreign returnees, their relatives and close contacts, who had been identified and kept in isolation,” he said.

Apart from these quarantined people, the fate of patients who tested positive for Covid-19 and are undergoing treatment in hospitals would also be known.

“Till now, 70 people have tested positive for coronavirus, including three new positive cases on Sunday. Of them, one was discharged last week and another 11 patients tested negative after a final round of tests on Sunday. They will be discharged on Monday,” he said.The only person who died due to coronavirus was not actually admitted to the hospital but was brought dead and he had tested positive after death. “So, there are only 58 positive cases in the state at present. Except one 76-year-old man who has other complications, all the remaining are stable and recovering. We hope, they, too, will test negative by April first week and be discharged,” he said.

If there are no other positive cases by then, which we are confident of because of closure of the state for international passengers and those from other states, we can say that Telangana will be coronavirus-free,” the chief minister said.

KCR, however, cautioned people against being complacent. “We cannot lift the lockdown even if there are no Covid-19 cases in the state by April 7. We shall follow the Central guidelines till everything in the country turns normal,” he said.

A survey carried out by the government revealed that there are 3.35 lakh migrant workers organised in 12,436 groups. The government will provide them with 12 kg rice and Rs 500 cash for survival during the lockdown period. “If required, they will be provided cooked meals,” he said.