Tamil Nadu has extended its Covid-19 lockdown till August 23 with fresh restrictions. While the government is now planning to reopen schools for select standards starting September, religious places have also come under fresh curbs.
What the New guidelines Entail:
‣ All religious places will be shut three days of the week – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
‣ The government plans to reopen schools for 9, 10, 11 and 12th standard students from September 1 with 50% attendance of the students, at one time, under strict Covid-compliance.
‣ Colleges which teach medical and nursing courses will be allowed to reopen from August 16 and the government will release a seperate SoP for it.
‣ The government has warned of action against shops which violate the Covid guidelines issued. The government had previously said strict orders have been given to district collectors and the police on punishing violators — public individuals and establishments—of the pandemic rules. The coming weeks would be crucial for the DMK government in proving its mettle in curtailing the oncoming viral wave.
Lockdown ‘Wait and Watch’ After Marginal Case Increase
The number of Covid-19 cases in the state increased marginally to 1,997 – from 1,949 on Wednesday – to take the total number of infections here to 25,69,398.
Tamil Nadu had previously extended its lockdown till August 9, after seeing a uptick in cases after a decline over the past couple of months. Changing its approach, the state government had decided to put a stop to relaxing lockdown norms and instead switched to a wait-and-watch mode. Districts such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Chengalpattu and Kallakuruchi remain under a stern watch, after the case graphs showed a bottoming out and northward reversal.
Tamil Nadu had faced weeks under a frightful dearth of beds and oxygen during the second wave; deaths had mounted too, raising murmurs of under reporting in districts like Coimbatore.
Earlier, the government had relaxed norms for Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), industrial schools, and typewriting training institutes, allowing them to function with 50 per cent of students on a rotational basis.
The government had also said that schools, colleges, theaters, bars, and swimming pools would remain closed.
It had said in its order issued on July 30 that interstate public and private bus transport will remain closed except for the to-and-fro service with Puducherry.
It had also allowed a maximum of 50 people for marriage functions and 20 people at funerals or last rites.
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