Carry on economic activities with caution: CII to TS

Hyderabad: As the new variant of Covid-19 is posing challenges to economic activities and attacking workers on a fast mode, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has submitted the recommendation to the Government of Telangana on measures to continue the economic activities during Covid-19. The industry body also appreciated the State Government's efforts on handling the Covid-19 pandemic thus far.

In a letter to Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Rao, it has alerted to track economic recovery movement to ensure people get back to pre-pandemic levels. Its restrictions include considering social and economic activities as separate. Mass gatherings for any social sports, entertainment, recreation, etc, should be restricted in general to curtail further spread of the Omicron.

It puts forward the containment strategy based on micro zones. These are small, clearly marked geographical areas identified and demarcated by district administrations, such as neighbourhoods, villages, talukas, urban bodies, and pin-codes, to monitor and manage the outbreak.

Other implications include random sampling for testing and sero-positivity and early warning systems, a combination of vaccination rate, hospitalisation incidence and sero-prevalence, if available, should be used as parameters to determine containment and subsequent opening in micro zones and the level of restrictions. Containment at micro zones should be considered only when available hospital beds are 75 per cent occupied, normal economic activities should continue in the rest of the district and even in micro containment zones under strict supervision. In micro containment zones, all factories may be allowed to function under certain conditions of hygiene and safety.