The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday, January 5, announced a slew of restrictions in view of the COVID-19 surge in the state. A night curfew has been announced from 10 pm to 5 am and on Sundays, there will be a lockdown. The restrictions will be in force from January 6, Thursday. The order came after Chief Minister MK Stalin met state Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and state public health officials, including TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, on Tuesday, January 4.
During the night and weekend curfew, all shops, hotels and other establishments will not be permitted to function. Essential services, including private and bus services, milk and newspaper delivery,
hospitals, ATMs, petrol and diesel pumps etc will be allowed to function.
The state government also said that the metro rail will not function on Sundays and during the night curfew. However, restaurants are allowed the option of takeaway from 7 am to 10 pm. The public will be allowed to travel during 10 pm and 5 am on all days only if they are travelling to and from bus and train stations and airports, and will have to show proof of travel. All public transport, including metro, buses etc, will function at 50% capacity.
Tamil Nadu have risen from 1,728 cases on Monday to 2,731 cases on Tuesday while the test positivity rate rose from 0.7% on December 30 to 2.6% on Tuesday showing a quantum jump in infected cases.