Around 4,800 salons and beauty parlours resumed functioning in Coimbatore district on Sunday as part of relaxation granted by the State government across Tamil Nadu, except in Chennai and containment zones.

These salons and beauty parlours were remaining closed since March 24, leaving over 5,000 people jobless across the district.

Salons and beauty parlours with air conditioning were not allowed to function on Sunday. Earlier, the State government had allowed functioning of salons in rural areas except Greater Chennai Corporation, Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and town panchayats from May 19.

Balaji, who runs a salon near Coimbatore Collectorate, said that he was relieved by the decision of the government as income of his and several others in the sector was hit from March 24 .

“My team used to do service for 25 to 30 people a day before lockdown. On Sunday, we had good number of customers,” he said.

Rush for hair cutting, shaving and trimming in salons was high on Sunday in view of Id-Ul-Fitr.

Officials from Coimbatore Corporation and health officers of other local bodies were monitoring whether salons and beauty parlours followed precautions against the spread of COVID-19.

According to R. Sasikumar, Ukkadam branch secretary of the Coimbatore District Barbers’ and Salon Association, all the salons were asked to use single use towels worth around ₹ 10 for hair dressing. Other precautions to be followed in salons and beauty parlours were to disinfect used tools, chairs and other objects that come in contact with clients after every customer leaves the place. Salon and beauty parlour operators were also asked to follow advanced booking and allot timings, if possible, to avoid waiting of customers in large numbers.

Coimbatore district administration was processing distribution of Government aid of ₹2,000 to barbers/beauticians who were affected during lockdown.