Chennai: As per the unanimous resolution adopted by the assembly leaders in the all-party meet on Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday intensified the lockdown norms in the state further to break the chain of the virus. Issuing a fresh order, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that grocery shops, vegetable shops, fish and meat shops will be allowed to open only for four hours in the morning from 6 AM till 10 AM. However, the tea shops will not be allowed to open during the lockdown period. Moreover, the state government did not give permission for roadside shops to sell vegetables, flowers, and fruits during this time.
As per the fresh order, only E-commerce companies can function for four hours in the evening time from 2 PM till 6 PM.
The state government made E-Pass registration mandatory for people who come from other states and foreign countries. E- Pass registration has also been made compulsory for intra-state & inter-state travel from May 17.
Notably, the state government imposed complete lockdown on both Sundays (May 16 and 23).
The development comes as the all-party meeting led by chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday evening passed an unanimous resolution to intensify the ongoing lockdown in Tamil Nadu.
Notably, the state went under full lockdown from May 10 till May 24 to contain the spread of the virus.
As per the earlier order, the essentials like groceries were allowed until 12 noon and restaurants can function only for takeaways and delivery executives are permitted. All other activities have been stopped and marriages and funerals were allowed with only a specific number of people.
On Friday, Tamil Nadu recorded 31,892 new cases and 20,037 recoveries with 288 deaths in the last 24 hours. On Thursday, the state recorded 30,621 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 14,99,485 while 297 deaths took the toll to 16,768.
The State capital accounted for 6,991 new infections, totalling 4,19,261 till date. The metropolis leads also in the number of fatalities with 5,546 deaths.
Besides Chennai, Chengalpet added 2,173 cases, Coimbatore 2,835, Kanyakumari 1,079, Madurai 1,331, Thiruvallur 1,251, while the remaining districts clocked new infections in triple digits.
Ariyalur 174, Cuddalore 672, Dharmapuri 221, Dindigul 398, Erode 910, Kallakurichi 150, Kancheepuram 691, Karur 332, Krishnagiri 609, Nagapattinam 344, Namakkal 457, Nilgiris 224, Perambalur 183, Pudukottai 297, Ramanathapuram 293, Ranipet 440 and Salem 763.
Sivagangai recorded 207, Tenkasi 357, Thanjavur 683, Theni 492, Thirupathur 397, Thiruvannamalai 589, Thiruvarur 378, Tuticorin 492, Tirunelveli 781, Tiruppur 712, Tiruchirappalli 940, Vellore 640, Villupuram 571 and Virudhunagar 564.