CHENNAI: As Tamil Nadu reported a fresh spike of a whopping 14,842 cases and 80 deaths on Saturday, the State government pressed the lockdown button to tackle the onslaught by announcing a fresh set of restrictions from Monday.
According to the new guidelines, apart from continuing with the night curfew and Sunday lockdown, malls, large standalone shops and shopping complexes will remain closed on all weekdays. Other enclosed spaces like theatres, gyms, bars, recreation clubs, auditoriums and conference halls will be shut. Standalone TASMAC outlets can function, but the attached bars can’t.
As May 2 is a Sunday, and comes under the lockdown guideline, the government will soon make that day an exception and issue a detailed safety guideline for vote counting. To avoid panic buying and prevent shopping clusters, the government has permitted standalone grocery stores and vegetable shops (except those in malls) to function, as also departmental stores without airconditioning and with 50 per cent of their customer capacity.
While restaurants, messes and tea shops will be allowed to offer takeaway services, guests in hotels and lodges will have to be served food in their respective rooms. But beauty parlours, spas and salons in all corporations and municipalities will have to be shut.