Tamil Nadu will witness a complete lockdown on Sundays and public places such as beaches, clubs, malls and cinema halls will be out of bounds from 10 pm to 5 am from January 6 after a 58% surge in Covid-19 cases was reported in the last 24 hours, with the sharpest increase in fresh infections detected in Chennai with 1,489 cases.
Additionally, areas of public congregation such as bars, places of worship and religious, cultural and recreational gatherings may have to be put off.
Tamil Nadu follows other states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra in imposing curbs in response to the surging wave of virus.
Since Tuesday, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has chaired three meetings with key bureaucrats, discussing modalities for the imposition of the curbs. At a brief press conference, health minister Ma. Subramanian told reporters that vaccination camps would be held on Saturdays to accommodate complete lockdown on Sundays.
The state government had been holding mass vaccination camps over the last few months to accelerate inoculation among the masses. On Tuesday, it kicked off vaccination for teenagers above 15 years of age.
New Covid cases in Tamil Nadu spiked from 1,728 on Monday to over 2,730 cases on Tuesday, an increase of 58%. Amid the surge, the state government had been planning to impose curbs that would limit the spread of the virus but not hamper business extensively.
Even though Tamil Nadu has accelerated addition of bed strength across government hospitals, experts are scared a sudden increase in active cases might overwhelm hospitals.
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