Hyderabad,  Cinema theatres in Telangana on Tuesday decided to voluntarily close down from Wednesday in view of the continuing surge in Covid-19 cases in the state.

Telangana Theatre Owners' Association took the decision at a meeting held hours after the state government decided to impose night curfew from Tuesday till April 30.

Though the state government issued an order asking cinema theatres to close down at 8 p.m. in view of the night curfew, the association took the decision to shut down the theatres. The association said the decision was taken for the safety of audiences and to help prevent spread of Covid-19.

The government imposed night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. to contain the spread of Covid-19. It issued a separate Government Order (GO) limiting screening of movie shows in cinema theatres across the state. It asked theatres to close at 8 p.m.

The managements of cinema theatres/multiplexes were also directed to ensure that all persons including audience, staff, vendors etc use mask all times, hand sanitizers are available at entry/exit points and common areas, physical distancing and crowd management measures are followed and sanitization of entire premises particularly common areas shall be done after every screening.

The cinema halls were also asked to ensure that temperature setting of all air conditioning devices should be in the range of 24-30 Celsius. Relative humidity should be in the range of 40-70 per cent. Re-circulation of air should be avoided and intake of fresh air should as much as possible, said the GO.

The managements were asked to stagger show timings to ensure that intervals of different shows do not occur simultaneously.