CHENNAI: With Corona cases spiking again in the state, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday announced that night curfew between 10 pm to 5 am will come into force in Tamil Nadu from January 6.
All commercial complexes, establishments, shops and hotels will have to down shutters during this curfew. However, public and private transport will be allowed.
A complete lockdown will be enforced on Sunday (January 9) when only essential services will be allowed.
It was also announced that places of worship won't be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Physical classes have been barred in all schools from Standards 1 to 9. However, they will be allowed for Standards 10, 11, and 12.
Only walkers will be allowed at all beaches.
All cultural events planned by the government and private organisations in view of Pongal stand postponed. All exhibitions too stand postponed.
Announcing the decisions taken at a high-level meeting held earlier in the day, the Chief Minister noted that these fresh restrictions were needed to prevent the spread of Covid and particularly the rapidly spreading Omicron infections.
During night curfew, essential services like milk supply, distribution of newspapers, hospitals, labs, dispensaries, ambulance, and mortuary vans, and all medical services will be allowed. ATM centres, freight vehicles, vehicles carrying petrol, diesel, and LPG will also be operational.
Petrol and diesel bunks will be allowed to function round the clock, it was clarified.
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IT companies and manufacturing units of factories will also be allowed to run. However, the employees should carry their identity cards. IT companies are, however, being advised to encourage their employees to adopt work from home.
During the full lockdown on January 9, essential services like milk supply, dispensaries, ATM centres, freight vehicles, petrol, and diesel bunks, will be allowed. However, public transport and metro rail will not function. On Sunday, only takeaways are allowed at hotels between 7 a.m and 10 p.m. Food delivery will be allowed during this time. However, e-commerce agencies will not be allowed to function.
During the night curfew and on January 9, passengers will be allowed to travel using their own vehicles or using hired vehicles. They should carry passes.
Apart from the already allowed activities, the following restrictions will be enforced from January 6:
Holiday declared till January 20 for all colleges and polytechnics (except government and private medical colleges) to enable the students to take examinations.
Training and coaching centres won't be allowed.
Only 50 percent of passengers will be allowed in buses, suburban trains and metro rail.
Entertainment parks/amusement parks cannot function.
Bar on cultural, social and political gatherings will continue.
District Collectors and local bodies should make arrangements for establishing vegetable and fish markets in more than one place to avoid people crowding at a single place.
The transport department should make arrangements for operating buses zonal-vise from different places instead of operating all buses from integrated bus terminuses.
Employees and proprietors of shops, commercial establishments, private organisations, commercial complexes, theatres, and service sector organisations and those working at places where people gather in large numbers should have been administered two doses of the vaccine.
Employees of the state government and local bodies should have vaccinated themselves by January 9 and submit the relevant certificate to their offices.