It was business as usual in Salem on Day One of the revised COVID-19 regulations on Saturday. Though fresh restrictions were imposed by the State government, the response was lukewarm here.
Being the first day of New Year, the public gathered in churches and temples to offer prayers. Special pujas were conducted at a few temples and significant crowd was noticed at major temples in the city. Theatres operated with 50% seating capacity. Theatre owners said the turnout was less as there were not any major new releases.
Though restrictions were imposed on seating capacity at eateries and hotels, majority of eateries operated in normal capacity. Being weekend, the public turned up in significant numbers to Kurumbapatti zoological park and to tourist attractions in Yercaud. According to Park authorities, necessary sanitation facilities were arranged at the entrance of the parks. Authorities said the capacity of visitors were maintained within 50%. A total of 2,520 persons including children visited the park on Saturday. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease, the park at Mettur dam was closed till Sunday as huge crowd would turn up here during weekends.