Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government today extended the coronavirus lockdown in the state till July 19, while relaxing a few restrictions. Shops can remain open for an hour longer and need to shut only by 9 pm.
Restaurants, tea shops, bakeries, roadside eateries and sweet shots can stay open till 9 pm with 50 per cent customers. These places will need to comply with Covid protocols such as placing hand sanitisers outside and ensuring that people in queues follow social distancing. Air-conditioned outlets must have adequate ventilation with doors and/or windows open.
While only up to 50 people can attend weddings, only 20 can attend funerals.
Schools, colleges, bars, theatres, swimming pools and zoos will remain shut; Cultural and political events with public participation too cannot be held.
Though the state has not re-started inter-state buses, it has decided to resume bus services to neighbouring Puducherry.
On Friday, Tamil Nadu logged 3,039 COVID-19 cases and 69 deaths. The fresh cases are slightly lower than the previous day's. The state has reported over 25.13 lakh cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
India reported 42,766 COVID-19 cases and 1,206 deaths in the last 24 hours. At the same time, 45,254 people recovered from the virus. As per a Health Ministry update on Saturday morning, there are now 4.55 lakh active cases in the country. The cumulative case tally since the pandemic began has now risen to 3,07,95,716.
The recovery rate has now increased to 97.20% while the weekly positivity rate presently stands at 2.34%. At the state level, active cases in Maharashtra and Kerala continue to remain above the one lakh mark.
