Officials suggest extension of lockdown by another week
CHENNAI: With the lockdown scheduled to end on June 14, Chief Minister MK Stalin is likely to extend it by one more week with a few more relaxations, sources said. On Thursday, he held a meeting with senior government officials who reportedly advised him to extend curbs in view of the high number of deaths that continue to be reported daily despite the dip in fresh cases.
“Though the number of positive cases are decreasing as expected, the tally still remains high when compared to the first wave and the fatality rate is also on the higher side. Hence officials recommended that the lockdown be extended by one week till June 21,” a source from the Secretariat said. The second wave of COVID-19 hit Tamil Nadu badly and the daily count of cases are still highest in the country.
During the last week of lockdown, state was split into two zones in which 27 districts having less cases were grouped into one and 11 districts having high cases grouped into another. While more relaxations were provided for 27 districts, no relaxations were provided for the 11 districts, which were largely present in western and delta region of the state.
Sources said that the officials recommended Chief Minister to continue with the grouping of districts and to continue restrictions for the 11 districts where cases are still high. However, for the remaining 27 districts more relaxations were recommended.
“Relaxations such as opening private companies with limited staff, opening of parks for morning walks and opening of liquor shops for limited time period per day were some of the suggestions made. It is upto the Chief Minister to accept the recommendations and take a decision on extending lockdown,” a source privy to the meeting said.