Night curfew, restricted shop timings likely from Sunday

“As the Chief Minister is in Salem and is set to return only on Sunday, officials will meet him on Sunday and apprise him of the decisions taken today. Following the meeting, Chief Minister will make the announcements,” said a source in the Secretariat. 

The second wave of COVID-19 is spreading at an unexpected rate as on Friday, the tally stood at an all-time high of 8,449 cases. The Chief Secretary is holding back-to-back meetings with officials to take all possible steps to curb the spread of COVID in the state. 

Following the meeting with officials of the Education Department to take a decision on Class 12 examinations on Thursday, Ranjan met the Health Secretary and officials of the Health Department at the Secretariat on Friday to take important decisions on imposing additional restrictions to lower the number of positive cases. 

“The Health department officials had recommended imposition of night curfew and total curfew on to prevent people crowding in vegetable, meat and fish markets. Restrictions in timings for shops and commercial centres were also recommended,” said sources. 

Public parks and gyms are the major concerns for the State government and medical experts have also recommended shutdown of gyms and public parks completely. Officials have also recommended the state government to reduce the number of government officials coming to offices to 50 per cent.