Hyderabad City Police to issue passes to vehicles carrying essential commodities

Amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown in the wake of novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, the Hyderabad City Police on Wednesday said that it will issue passes which will help in free movement of the vehicles carrying essential and semi-essential commodities during the lockdown period. So far Telangana has reported over 40 confirmed cases. 

Addressing a press conference, Commissioner of Police (CP), Hyderabad City Anjani Kumar said, "As per the state government's instructions, we have conducted a coordination meeting. Most important essential and semi-essential business group representatives have come today and put forth their concerns and requirements, after which we have come to a conclusion of distribution of passes which will help in free movement of the vehicles carrying essential and semi-essential commodities." 

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He further said that these passes must not be misused. "These passes must be applied through electronic mail ID: Covid19.hyd@gmail.com and WhatsApp at 9490616780 for any need of pass. This is a challenging situation. All organisation must come together to fight it. Social distancing is necessary. We have to work with discipline. If anybody is given a pass it must not be misused," he said.

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India under lockdown

In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly. Earlier, the Telangana government had announced a complete lockdown in the state till March 31 in view of the virus outbreak.

As of date, India has reported over 650 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile, twelve people have died so far due to the deadly virus. Along with it, presently, there are around 468,577 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of around 21,185 people. Meanwhile, around 113,817 have reportedly been recovered.

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(with ANI inputs)