Total lockdown in TN for a week starts tomorrow
No shops – it includes vegetable and grocery vends too – will be allowed to open for one week from Monday, when the state will be under a total lockdown, permitting the continuation of just a handful of essential services and preventing people from stepping out of their homes.
However, to prepare the people for the lockdown and enable them to stock up on essential goods, all shops would be open till 9 pm on Saturday and from 6 am to 9 pm on Sunday, when outstation buses would also be operated, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced on Saturday through a statement.
Coming after the Chief Minister had a meeting with high level officers and medical experts, the statement said vegetables and fruits would be supplied through vehicles operated by the Horticulture Department in Chennai city. In the districts they would be supplied at the homes in association with the local bodies, it said.
Pharmacies, including that of indigenous medicine and veterinary sciences, would be open as usual and daily distribution of milk, water and newspapers be allowed during the total lockdown, the statement said.
Only essential departments in the Secretariat and district administrations will function, while banks, insurance companies and IT firms have been asked to allow their employees work from home. Malls too will not be allowed to open.
Restaurants, as usual, can provide takeaway service from 6 am to 10 am, 12 noon to 3 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm and e-commerce food delivery can also function only during those hours. Other e-commerce services would be allowed between 8 am to 6 pm. Rest of the services that have been allowed in the earlier relaxation to the lockdown like the functioning of petrol and diesel bunks and ATMs, transport of agricultural products and essential goods and inter-district travel for valid reasons like medical emergencies and deaths after e-registration would continue, the statement said.
Travel within the district for medical reasons will be allowed without eregistrations and the functioning of news and media offices and those industries that had already been given exemption like continuous process industries, those manufacturing essential commodities and medical equipment is permitted as usual.
Members of the public have been advised to strictly follow the Corona prevention norms like wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing and using hand sanitizers.
The Chief Minister said that the government had taken the initiative to increase the oxygen beds and Corona Care Centres.
IN ORDER to enable people to stock up on essential goods, all shops would be open till 9 pm on Saturday and from 6 am to 9 pm on Sunday.