Tamil Nadu Covid-19 lockdown news live: Chennai police to conduct checks at 200 places to enforce curbs

In wake of the prevailing Covid-19 situation, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the Class 10 board examination. However, the status of exams for Class 12 remains the same as the previous order- the Class 12 examination will be conducted at a later date in offline mode.

Airlines and railways have started to penalise passengers for not wearing masks. While Southern Railway collected ₹500 fine from 290 passengers each at major railway stations in the city in the last two days, a 44-year-old man was booked for refusing to wear a mask inside a flight that landed at Chennai from Kannur on Monday. Police said airline staff advised the passenger to wear masks by explaining the risks when they spotted him boarding without a mask at Kannur. However, he refused to pay heed. After the airline staff alerted the control room, police detained him when the flight touched down in Chennai at 11.30am. He was booked under the Pandemic Act and also for threatening the airline crew.

Greater Chennai Corporation on Monday locked and sealed a retail shopping centre, Super Saravana Store, in Purasawalkam after 26 of its employees tested positive for Covid-19. The employees were staying at their quarters in the same building of the shop on Kariappa Street. Their dormitory has also been declared a Covid-19 hotspot and sealed and entry and exit points have been blocked, corporation officials said. Earlier in the week, staff at another garment showroom in Purasawalkam also tested positive. Purasawalkam falls under zone 8 (Anna Nagar), which has the third highest number of streets under containment.

The 10,941 new cases pushed the total active cases in the state to 75,116 on Monday, when the state recorded 44 deaths and 6,172 discharges. The case tally touched 10.02 lakh (10,02,392) while the cumulative toll touched 13,157. Chennai, the worst affected district in the state, continued to report the maximum number of cases and deaths. READ FULL STORY HERE

The city’s Covid-19 positivity rate of 18% is almost double the state’s 9.7% and the number of its total active cases has crossed 24,000 recorded on July 5, 2020. As on April 18, the city had 25,011 active cases. City-based Covid data analyst Vijayanand said the doubling period for Chennai stood at eight days. If the present trend continues, there will be 50,000 cases in a week. “For entire TN, the doubling time is nine days and the cases, at this rate, will touch one lakh in the next six days.” READ FULL STORY HERE

Government medical college hospitals in Chennai on Monday struggled to increase oxygen beds amid a dearth of resources including doctors, postgraduates and nurses. The public too were hassled as information on bed availability in government hospitals wasn’t available in the public domain. READ FULL STORY HERE

While Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has turned 1,100-odd streets into Covid-19 containment zones, there is not a single such zone in the city's southern suburbs. Pallavaram and Tambaram municipalities together had blocked entry and exit of only 34 independent houses, which have three or more cases, till Monday morning. Authorities claimed that the micro-containment plan along with aggressive testing and vaccination drives have helped them in controlling the surge to an extent. READ MORE HERE

The city police will conduct checks at 200 strategic locations to ensure the lockdown measures are followed properly, said commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal on Monday. He was speaking at a coronavirus vaccination campaign that he inaugurated for police personnel at the Sembium police quarters. Aggarwal said plice personnel out on roads should ensure public adher to the lockdown norms. “Senior officers have advised junior officers to conduct checks during the late-night hours and also on Sundays during the full lockdown,” he said.

Hoping to return to their hometown in Rajasthan before things go out of control, Ram Prasad along with eight of his family members reached MGR Central railway station on Monday morning to catch a train. Prasad’s family reached Chennai by bus from Dindigul where he was a daily wage labourer in a plywood-making unit. Read the full story here

The Greater Chennai Corporation locked and sealed Saravana furniture store in Purasawalkam after 26 of its employees tested Covid-19 positive. The employees were staying in Kariappa Street. Their dormitory has also been declared a Covid-19 hotspot and sealed. Entry and exit has been blocked.

Five Covid-19 patients died in Puducherry in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 713. Puducherry headquarters has the maximum fatalities with 572 followed by Karaikal (84), Yanam (45) and Mahe (12).

Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) has cancelled the summer vacation of faculty members for the year 2021 in view of the worsening of the Covid-19 situation. Jipmer director Rakesh Agarwal issued a circular in this regard on Monday.

A large number of people are still seen without wearing masks in public places even after various agencies such as police, local bodies and revenue department are collecting Rs 200 as fines from offenders. Associations and NGOs have started rendering their support to ensure that people wear masks by distributing free masks in public places. Some distribute gifts to people, who are found wearing masks properly.