Chennai: Amid spurt in number of corona cases, which has breached the 11,000-barrier, besides claiming 78 lives, the fourth phase of lockdown began in Tamilnadu today.
While extending the lockdown yesterday for another two weeks till 31 May to tackle the virus spread, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palansiwami announced more relaxations in 25 districts, barring in containment zones, including limited operation of bus services, as life started limping back to normalcy.
The 25 districts are Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur, Namakkal, Karur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi, Kanyakumari, Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Pudukottai, Trichy, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagappattinam, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Vellore and Nilgiris.
However, no relaxations were announced in 12 districts–Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Villuppuram, Cuddalore, Ranipet, Tiruppattur, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur and Perambalur–where the number of coronavirus positive cases were high, and the curbs and some relaxations already announced in these areas would continue for the next two weeks.
Despite spike in the number of cases–6,750 so far–life was quite normal in Chennai as more number of vehicles plied on the road, though autos, taxis, share autos and buses and other public transport services, were off the roads.