Correspondent
CHENNAI, June 30 2020 (HS): Tamil Nadu Government on Monday decided to put entire state under lockdown till July 31. However Chennai and Madurai will continue to be under severe lockdown till July 5.
From July 6 onwards, the restrictions will begin to ease for Chennai and Madurai. The situation will be the same as it was in earlier lockdown.
Movement will be allowed, business hours will be extended from July 6 onwards, however usual restrictions like social distancing norms, allowing limited number of people in shops and other establishments at a given time will continue.
The weekends during July 19 to 30 especially Sundays will have stricter lockdown where only essential services like sanitary staff, health services and medical services, hospitals and pharmacies will be allowed to operate.
The same will continue on all Sundays in July also. Schools, colleges, malls, resorts, movie theatres, bars would continue to remain closed in July like before.
The restrictions with regard to marriages or deaths are also the same as it was before. More than 50 people are not allowed to assemble.
Religious gatherings for prayers and other rituals in places of worship in the urban areas will be banned. However the same in villages can take place provided the norms of social distancing are followed.
International air travel, inter-state bus services, metro and local train services will not be allowed. Even cultural programmes, sporting events, processions will not be allowed.
Government will announce relaxations at the appropriate time taking into consideration the virus transmission situation at that time.
This was decided after a team of health experts had a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami yesterday.
The team suggested the need to adhere to precautions like social distancing to break the spread of coronavirus and also suggested intensifying measures in areas where health parameters were not up to the mark.