Chennai: As the 4-day complete lockdown, to curtail the intensity of the spread of coronavirus in three Corporation limits of Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, ends at 9 pm today, Tamilnadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the measures that were in force prior to 26 April, would, continue to be in force.
Since the number of positive cases kept increasing, he announced complete lockdown for four days from 6 am on 26 April to 9 pm today in these three districts.
As the four-day lockdown comes to an end tonight, the Chief Minister, who held a series of meeting with IAS and IPS officers and also with District Collectors to review the COVID-19 situation, said the lockdown measures, which were in force before 26 April would, however, continue from tomorrow.
It may be recalled that Palaniswami first announced lockdown from 24 March to 31 March, which was subsequently extended to April 15 as per the announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Based on suggestions from the committee of medical experts, the Chief Minister in the wake of spurt in COVID cases in the State, announced a two-week extension till April 30, which was further extended to May three by Modi, taking into account the May Day and the weekend holidays.
Just a week before the May three deadline, Palaniswami concerned over people freaking out and not following the social distancing norms and spike in cases, acted tough by announcing four-day complete lockdown till 9 pm tonight.