The Telangana government on Sunday extended the lockdown for the next ten days. The decision to extend the lockdown in the state was taken after a four-hour cabinet meeting held by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. As per the new announcement, the relaxation period has been extended for seven hours (from 6 am to 1 pm). The state has been under a lockdown since May 12 and earlier the relaxation period was for four hours —  between 6 am-10 am.

Sharing the announcement regarding the lockdown extension, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao tweeted, “Cabinet meeting has resolved to continue Telangana lockdown for another 10 days and daily relaxation has been extended from 6 am to 1 pm. Limited revival of economic activity is also consented. Guidelines will be issued soon.”

The decision to extend the lockdown was opposed by Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi who said that lockdowns are neither scientific nor humanitarian. Earlier in the day, Asaduddin said that lockdown is not the right strategy to combat COVID-19. He said that the measure appears as a ‘hard on pandemic’ strategy but all it does is destroy the lives of the poor.

The Hyderabad MP claimed that COVID-19 cases in the state were already on a decline before the lockdown was imposed on May 12. 

Also read: Asaduddin Owaisi asks Telangana govt not to extend lockdown

He said that people have to accept that the pandemic is a long term reality. “One can combat it only by educating the public about mask use and social distancing, and tweaking govt policies to encourage and enable such lifestyle change. The only long-term solution is universal vaccination. Lockdowns give a cruel choice to the poor: poverty, police atrocities or pandemic. They make a public health crisis into a law and order problem. They are neither a scientific nor a humanitarian strategy.”

Urging the Chief Minister against extending the lockdown, he had said, “If the goal is to reduce crowding, then we may consider evening curfews (6 pm onwards) or mini-lockdowns for COVID clusters. But expecting 3.5cr people to live for weeks with just a 4 hour lockdown relaxation is not fair at all.”