Khairatabad, Secunderabad and Charminar are COVID hotspots in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Alarmed by the rising number of COVID cases, traders in Hyderabad and Secunderabad have declared a weeklong lockdown form June 28 to flatten the curve and prevent the infection from spreading.

Of the 11,364 actives cases in Telangana, 5882 are from six GHMC circles. Khairatabad with 2354 is the worst hit, which is followed by Charminar with 1257, Secunderabad 1234, and Serilingampally 398. LB Nagar and Kukatpally have 383 and 257 cases respectively.

Telangana on Thursday reported 920 new cases which are the highest single-day jump. The death toll has climbed to 230.The number of cases is like the game of ninepins. Sensing trouble, Textile traders of General Bazaar, Hyderabad and Secunderabad Sanitary Traders Association, Kirana Traders have called for a weeklong lockdown.

Famous Laad bazaar in Charminar and Troop bazaar in Koti too have raised the warning flag.

Pbel city located at APPA Junction is the first gated community to announced a lockdown. This comes after three fresh cases were reported.

“No entry of outsiders including maids, car cleaners, deliveries, service repair, carpenters, and visitors will be allowed. Exit and entry points will be opened once only for officer goers. Everyone should stay home and go out only during medical emergencies,” said a member of the Resident Welfare Association.

All essentials will be supplied through inhouse vendors. “Any deliveries will have to be collected outside the gate. Only water, medical, grocery and vegetable, and essential supply stores shall be opened inside Pbel,” he said.Asvathi is another gated community in KPHB to follow the suit.

This is a proper decision by traders of Lad Bazaar & other areas in Hyderabad. There are a total of 5883 cases in GHMC. My appeal to you is to:

-Ensure social distancing

-Avoid large gatherings/crowding

-Wear masks

-Not step out unless it's absolutely essential [1/2] https://t.co/lHDSh1FEbG pic.twitter.com/tOp33CoTTz

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) June 25, 2020

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COVID testing stalled for 2 days to clear backlog

Telangana health department authorities on June 25, announced that COVID test will be stalled for 2 days to clear the pending backlog. 'To clear testing of the pending samples and to sanitise the health camps, collection of samples at the camps would be stalled for two days, beginning 25th June. However, tests will conducted as usual at the Covid hospitals in the state' authorities said .

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has decided to conduct 50,000 Covid-19 tests in every Assembly constituency in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Accordingly, health camps would be conducted under the supervision of health minister Eatala Rajender and tests would be conducted to all those having symptoms of the infection.

Since June 16, as many as 36,000 samples were collected. Of them, 8,253 are pending in various labs. Any sample has to be tested before 48 hours of collecting it. The samples would be stored at a specific temperature from the moment they are collected.

As a large number of samples got collected at the health camps, they should be tested first. Collecting more samples without conducting tests on the already collected ones will only give false reports when they are tested. The public have been urged to approach the hospitals for Corona tests in case of emergency.