Tamil Nadu: Four-day full closure in Chennai from Sunday, to also cover grocers – Times of India

CHENNAI: As Covid-19 positive cases in the state continue to rise, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday announced a total lockdown in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai corporations from Sunday 6am to 9pm on Wednesday. The restriction will also cover city suburbs such as Tambaram, Pallavaram, Pammal and St Thomas Mount Panchayat Union and several other areas falling under Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. In Salem and Tirupur corporation limits, the lockdown will be in force from Sunday 6am to Tuesday 9pm.
Barring a few essential services, all others, including grocery stores, will remain shut. In a statement, the chief minister said though the virus has been brought under control in rural areas, the chances of it spreading in urban areas is quite high.
TN still in stage-II, no community spread: Chief secy
“We consulted public health experts, and they said the virus could be brought under control only if the lockdown is further intensified in urban areas,” the CM said, explaining the reason for the decision.
The CM announced the decision after a high-level meeting with chief secretary K Shanmugam, DGP J K Tripathy, Chennai police commissioner A K Viswanathan, and senior bureaucrats on Friday. According to sources, the officials told the CM that there was free movement of people and vehicles on roads due to relaxation of curbs, and virus transmission will be difficult to control in Chennai unless stricter measures are in place. “The CM said one option is to impose total lockdown till May 3 but he later restricted it to a few days,” a source said.
Shanmugam said the government had chosen the corporations based on population density, and cases reported. “We want to break the transmission cycle. Stricter lockdown will mean more effective restriction in containment zones and outside. By restricting movement, physical contact of people can be minimized,” Shanmugam said. He ruled out inclusion of more local bodies in the lockdown for now.
Asked about the possibility of these stricter measures being extended, Shanmugam said, “If the numbers continue to rise, tighter lockdown may continue.” The state was still in stage II of Covid-19 transmission (local transmission) and had not progressed to stage III (community transmission), he said. “Community spread is uncontrollable, something like what we are seeing in Maharashtra. Most of the cases reported in Tamil Nadu were in containment areas. Majority of the cases reported in Chennai today were from containment zones,” he said.
According to Chengalpet collectorate, Tambaram, Pallavaram, Pammal, Anakaputhur, Sembakkam municipalities, Peerkankaranai, Perungalathur, Chitlapakkam, Thiruneermalai and Madambakkam town panchayats, and 15 village panchayats of St Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, and Kanathur Rettikuppam and Muttukadu village panchayats in Tiruporur panchayat union will be under total lockdown. Similarly, Mangadu and Kunrathur town panchayats and 18 villages panchayats of Kunrathur panchayat union in Kancheepuram district will also be under curbs.
In Tiruvallur, Avadi, Poonamallee, Minjur and Ponneri municipalities, Naravarikuppam, Thirumazhisai and Tirunindravur town panchayats, and 13 village panchayats of Villivakkam panchayat union, seven village panchayats of Puzhal panchayat union, 28 village panchayats of Poonamallee panchayat union, and nine village panchayats of Cholavaram panchayat union, and nine village panchayats of Minjur panchayat union will under total lockdown.

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