Since last Saturday, when new coronavirus cases in Telangana almost doubled compared to the 24-hour period in the previous week, a rumour has gone out that the State will have to gear up for a lockdown. Most speculative media reports have used the word 'lockdown' without a qualifying term like 'partial'. This has caused a lot of panic in small businessmen, who fear that the lockdown will be intense or near-total.

In fact, there is no official word on any kind of lockdown as yet. Director of health Dr G Srinivas Rao has hinted that there are no plans afoot to reimpose a lockdown in the State.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao hasn't suggested, so far, that a lockdown will be promulgated to prevent a further spurt in cases. Usually, Chief Ministers would sound a warning bell days before a lockdown as a warning to the public.

Sections of media, however, are unrestrained. Some of them are even speculating about the rules of lockdown!

A lot of WhatsApp forwards and social media posts are recklessly anticipating a thorough lockdown. They are citing data from severely-affected States like Maharashtra to say that the KCR government is going to be very cautious and implement a lockdown before things go out of control. With several schools in Telangana acting as mini super-spreaders, the panic is somewhat understandable. But the rumour-mongering is just that: Baseless and far-fetched.