With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections concluding on April 6, the state government today issued an order spelling out COVID-19 restrictions to come into effect from April 10.
A day after the polls, on April 7, Tamil Nadu registered 3,986 new cases of COVID-19 and 17 deaths. On the same day, Rajeev Ranjan, chief secretary to the Tamil Nadu government held a meeting in the state capital Chennai, with the secretaries of various departments, public health specialists and the police, to discuss protocols to be enforced to control the spread of the pandemic.
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These COVID restrictions were formally announced today.
As per the new COVID-19 guidelines, temple festivals and other religious public events are banned from April 10. Large stores, jewellery outlets, malls, restaurants, movie theatres are to function with not more than 50 per cent capacity. Retail outlets in wholesale markets across the state, including the ones in Koyembedu, Chennai, one of Asia’s largest market complexes, will be closed for business.
While clubs, parks, museums, zoos will be allowed to function, they can do so at only 50 per cent of their capacity.
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Buses will ply within cities, and within districts, with only seated passengers with no standing allowed. Indoor sporting and other cultural events cannot have more than 200 people in attendance.
Weddings can be conducted with a limit of only 100 guests and funerals can have a maximum of 50 people attending.
The COVID-19 restrictions would be in place till April 30.
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Tamil Nadu is one of the eight states including Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi that accounted for 80.7 per cent of the new cases reported in 24 hours.
Keeping in mind the sharp rise in coronavirus cases, a number of states have put in place COVID-19 restrictions such as night curfew and weekend lockdown.
