The Tamil Nadu government has announced a two week “total lockdown” from May 10 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The order was issued a day after the state recorded its biggest day spike of over 26,000 new Covid infections.
Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a statement, said that the lockdown was being enforced due to “unavoidable reasons”. The decision, Mr Stalin added, was taken based on inputs received at a review meeting he had with district collectors on Friday, besides consultations with medical experts.
“The total lockdown will be enforced from 4 am on May 10 to 4 am on May 24,” he said.
From May 10, vegetable, meat and fish shops and provisional stores will remain open only till 12 noon. All other shops will remain closed. State-owned liquor shops, Tasmac will be closed during the 14-day complete lockdown in Tamil Nadu.
Restaurants will be allowed to open only for takeaway services. Petrol and diesel bunks will remain open during the lockdown.
Tamil Nadu saw 26,465 new coronavirus cases on Friday, pushing the caseload to 13.23 lakh while a record 197 deaths in the last 24 hours took the toll to 15,171. According to the health department, the active cases stood at 1,35,355. Tamil Nadu is among the 12 states that have over one lakh active COVID-19 cases each at present, according to the central government.
