Chennai: A city street wears a deserted look during COVID-induced lockdown
The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday extended coronavirus lockdown in the state for one more week, until June 28, following consultations with medical experts. However, some Covid-19 restrictions have been eased in certain districts.
The state will follow a tier-based system to allow more relaxation to some districts.
Tier-1: It comprises 11 districts: No additional relaxations have been provided as the active caseload continues to remain high. This includes Coimbatore, Nigeria, Thiruppur, Erode, Salem, Karur, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai.
Tier-2: 23 districts have been provided with additional relaxations from Covid restrictions.
Tier-3: Consists of Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpet, get additional relaxations along with those extended to Tier-2 districts.
Meanwhile, Stalin had held a meeting with health experts and officials to review the situation on Saturday. “Lockdown will be extended for a week since the government is concerned about certain districts clocking positivity rate of 10% or more. Though there was discussion on further relaxation of lockdown norms, no decision has been taken,” said an official.
The state is also cautious about the possibility of a third wave. “We have reached a lull phase in the second wave, but after seeing at least seven cases with new Delta plus variant, experts project a possible third wave in many states in the next two to four weeks. Some of these infected patients had taken both their vaccine doses,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
