Tamil Nadu govt extends COVID-19 lockdown till September 6 with relaxations: Check what's allowed

MK Stalin (File image: Twitter/@arivalayam)

The Tamil Nadu state government has extended COVID-19 curbs till September 9 with additional relaxations. The existing relaxations were scheduled to end by August 23.

Chief Minister M K Stalin chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials on August 21 and decided to reopen educational institutions from September 1 along with theatres from August 23.

"The members of the public should utilise the relaxations being extended by the government in a responsible manner. I appeal to the people to utilise the relaxations properly as the decisions have been made taking into consideration people’s livelihoods, besides students’ education and future,” Stalin said.

What’s allowed?

Theatres are allowed to open from August 23. The theatre owners are required to ensure vaccination of the workers.

All shops can be opened until 10 pm instead of 9 pm as prescribed earlier.

Schools will reopen for classes 9 to 12 students from September 1 with 50 percent capacity on a rotation basis. Under the new guidelines, schools can also serve students with food under the 'noon-meal scheme'.

Polytechnics and colleges have been allowed to reopen from September 1.

Beaches zoos, parks, boat houses, and other public places are also allowed to reopen from August 23 onwards, provided COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) are maintained.

Bars in hotels and clubs have been allowed to open from August 23, but only if staff members have received the COVID-19 jab.

IT firms can now function with 100 percent staff attendance.

Swimming pools are allowed to open but only for sports training, given that all trainees are above the age of 18 and trainers have received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Buses plying to neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with COVID SOP can also resume.

Crèches will be permitted too and the staff should be vaccinated.

What’s not allowed?

Schools for classes 1 to 8 class students are not permitted to open. A decision on this will be taken after September 15, a release from the government said.

Swimming pools for the general public

No services are allowed in Containment zones except essential services.

Tamil Nadu on Saturday saw 1,652 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 23 fatalities, the Health Department said. With these, the total number of the infected stood at 25,99,255 and 34,686 deaths till date, the department said.

Number of recoveries were more than the fresh infections with 1,859 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 25,45,178 leaving 19,391 active infections, a bulletin said.

[Inputs from PTI]