Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday called for 24-hour shutdown in the state from 6 a.m. on Sunday as part of the efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Extending support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'Janata curfew' from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Rao appealed to the people to observe the shutdown for 24 hours.

He said since this move for the safety and well-being of the society, everyone should observe it voluntarily. He announced that no buses and trains including local trains and Hyderabad Metro trains would run during the period.

The chief minister told a news conference that barring essential services like health, milk, water and power supply everything would be shut. He said Telangana should be a model for the entire country.

He also appealed to people to come out of their houses or on their balconies for 2-4 minutes at 5 p.m. to clap for those in the medical profession rendering services in this crisis.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said if required the state would go for total shutdown to contain the spread of Coronavirus. The state so far reported 21 COVID-19 positive cases and all of them had come from abroad.

He said Telangana was also considering shutting down its borders with Maharashtra after 2-3 days.

Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of cases (52) out of 258 cases reported so far across the country.

He said 20,000 passengers arrived in Telangana from abroad since March 1. Out of these 11,000 traced and kept under home quarantine.

The chief minister said 5,274 teams formed to trace all those who returned from abroad this month. He appealed to all such people to voluntarily report to the authorities and assured that the government will take care of all the expenses of their treatment and that they would not be troubled.