Telugu actor Chiranjeevi has announced a free vaccination drive for cinema artists and journalists covering the Tollywood film industry. He shared the news on social media and wrote (as translated), "To protect film workers and film journalists in the Telugu film industry from the clutches of Corona, we are launching a free vaccination facility on behalf of Corona Crisis Charity #CCC courtesy of Apollo 24/7."
CCC was started by Chiranjeevi last year and the organization is collaborating with Apollo for the latest vaccination drive. The vaccines will be available for everyone above 45 but he added that artists and journalists would first have to register through their respective unions and organizations.
Amidst the second wave of the coronavirus, cases have been rapidly rising across the country. Chiranjeevi aims to keep the film industry safe from COVID with his latest initiative. He also ensured that those who get vaccinated will have access to free consultation from Apollo for three months and would also receive necessary medicines at subsidized rates.
Since the establishment of CCC, several Telugu actors donated money to the charity to support the cause, including Varun Tej, Ravi Teja, Sharwanand, and Prabhas. Chiranjeevi had also earlier tweeted about the pandemic, and subsequent lockdown, affecting daily wage workers and low income groups in the film industry.
The Telangana government announced restrictions on cinema theatres, allowing them to only be open till 8 pm, due to the rising cases. Some theatres volunteered to shut down completely and many films also postponed their release. Meanwhile, the Telugu Film Producers Council decided that movie shootings will continue with 50% capacity and will follow all necessary precautions on set.
Telangana recorded 6542 new COVID cases as of 20 April taking the cumulative number to 3,67,901. 2,887 recoveries were recorded, according to the latest report by the state's Public Health department.
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