Chennai: The Tamilnadu government today announced that a full lockdown will be imposed in the state for two weeks, starting 10 May.
The decision was taken to arrest the spread of coronavirus, Chief Minister M K Stalin said in a statement here.
Apart from essential shops like groceries, milk kiosks and pharmacies (which shall function till 12 noon), all other shops, commercial establishments, private companies shall remain closed.
Government offices both Central and State excluding those handling critical services will remain closed till 24 May.
All commercial establishments are allowed to function from 6 am to 9 pm today and tomorrow.
This comes a day after the State recorded 26,465 new Covid-19 cases in the biggest single-day spike so far, pushing the caseload to 13,23,965.
Chennai accounted for 6,738 of the new infections, totalling 3,77,042. Fatality count also reached a record high at 197, taking the cumulative death toll to 15,171.