Chennai: Tamilnadu government today announced the extension of lockdown till midnight of 31 August.
A statement from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that complete lockdown will be implemented during all the Sundays of August.
“Companies except those in containment zones can operate with 75 per cent employees. Fifty per cent customers can sit and eat at tea shops and restaurants from morning 6 am to 7 pm. Restaurants can give parcels till 9 pm,” the statement said.
The statement further said that Section 144 will continue to be in effect and more than five persons should not form a group.
“Status quo will continue in the operation of trains, flights and buses. The e-pass proceedure will also continue. Provisional shops and vegetable shops can be opened from 6 am to 7 pm,” it said.
It also said that Independence Day will be celebrated based on the instructions of the Central government. The announcement was made after Palaniswami held a meeting with medical expert team this morning.
He said that the coronavirus infection in Chennai and other districts has reduced due to the measures taken by the government. He said that the further course of action on the lockdown will be made based on their recommendations.
Palaniswami held discussions with District Collectors Wednesday via video conferencing and received their views on extension of lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19, will take a final decision today after consulting with health experts.
Asserting that various steps are being taken to tackle the spread of coronavirus pandemic, Palaniswami Wednesday said Tamilnadu ranks first among the States in India in testing while the recovery rate was higher and the Covid-19 mortality rate was the lowest in the country.
In his address at a meeting of all District Collectors via video-conferencing from the State Secretariat here to take stock of the prevailing Covid-19 situation and to decide on whether to extend lockdown 6.0 or not after 31 July, he said the testing rate is highest in Tamilnadu and stood first among all States in the country.
He said till date 24.7 lakh samples were tested in the State, which was the highest in the country and door to door testing was being done to identify those having virus symptoms.
Stating that various steps have been taken to tackle the virus spread, Palaniswami said 46 lakh face masks have been distributed in Chennai and the recovery rate was more than 73 per cent, which is also the highest in India.
Noting that Corona Fatality Rate (CFR) was the lowest in Tamilnadu among all States in the country, the Chief Minister said 15,000 healthcare workers were deployed in the fight against the pandemic.