Wearing of masks mandatory in Ranipet district amid Covid surge

CHENNAI: As the number of cases of Covid continues to increase in the State, Ranipet district Collector S Valarmathi has made wearing face masks mandatory at public places in the district.

The Collector also advised the public to maintain social distancing in crowded areas.

Earlier, the State's public health department warned the elderly people and those with co-morbidities to wear masks and not to move around in crowded places.

The health department also however said that there was no reason to panic as the state has not witnessed any large rapidly rising clusters as was witnessed during the first three phases of Covid.

On Saturday, the State reported 502 new cases, including cases from the UAE, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and France. TN's total number of cases reached 36,01,701. Chennai had 136 new cases followed by Kanniyakumari with 52 cases, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur had 28 cases each, Salem had 27 cases and other districts reported less than 20 cases.