If YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has his way, the state government might throw open malls and restaurants in the state, of course, with certain restrictions.
Jagan, who held a review meeting with senior officials, discussed the exit plan to be implemented for controlling the spread of the virus.
He asked them to come up with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for preventing, containing and minimizing the spread of coronavirus, especially in the crowd-pulling spaces like malls and restaurants.
The SOP should be prepared in tune with the lockdown guidelines and the officials should focus on creating awareness on safety measures.
He suggested that the commercial establishments should themselves take initiative in ensuring safety measures such as maintaining of physical distancing and wearing of masks etc.
Jagan stressed the need for allying fears of the public towards COVID-19 and ensure that there was no stigma attached to the disease.
He directed the officials to create awareness among people and encourage them to voluntarily come forward for testing without any fear.
He asked the officials to distribute pamphlets to every house and educate them on coming forward with confidence rather than avoiding it.