Owaisi opposes lockdown Updated: Updated: Share Article AAA Hours ahead of the State Cabinet’s decision on the lockdown on Sunday, Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi opposed its extension, arguing that the only solution to combat the pandemic was universal vaccination. Taking to Twitter, Mr Owaisi stated that a lockdown may appear as an aggressive strategy take on the pandemic, but it actually destroys the lives of the poor. He further stated that COVID cases were coming down before the lockdown came into effect on May 12, indicating that a lockdown did not help curb the number of cases. “The only long-term solution is universal vaccination. Lockdowns give a cruel choice to the poor: poverty, police atrocities or pandemic. They make a public health crisis into a law and order problem. They are neither a scientific nor a humanitarian strategy,” he tweeted, explaining that COVID-19 can be fought against by educating people about wearing a mask and social distancing. He also said that the government could tweak policies to ‘encourage and enable such lifestyle change’.