Fresh curbs from tomorrow in TN to contain Covid surge

Fresh curbs from tomorrow in TN to contain Covid surge

Get Jabs In 2 Wks, State Tells People Aged 45 & Above

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 09.04.2021

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced new measures to check the second surge of Covid-19 cases, putting the onus on industries, shopping complexes, offices and restaurants to ensure people wore masks and followed other pandemic protocol. The public is barred from all places of worship, which can follow essential rituals with only staff in attendance but will have to shut by 8 pm from April 10. Retail fruit and vegetable shops at the Koyambedu complex here will be also be shut from that date.

The government has urged people aged above 45 years to get vaccinated in government hospitals and recognized private hospitals within two weeks. Industries should arrange for vaccination of their employees based on the guidelines issued by the Centre and stern action would be taken for violation of standard operating procedures.

Masks must, sanitise hands, says governor

Governor Banwarilal Purohit has urged people to follow the government’s instructions to fight the pandemic. He requested all people to wear masks compulsorily, maintain social distancing and sanitise hands regularly, a release said.

‘For containment of virus, public should cooperate’

Chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan said the public should cooperate for effective containment of the virus. “The management of industries, shopping complexes, private organisations, offices and restaurants should ensure thermal scanning, use of hand sanitisers and wearing of face masks by their employees, officials and the public. Persons without face masks should not be allowed to enter the premises,” he said in an order.

The government also set up field-level teams of IAS officers, supported by revenue, police and health officials for each of the 15 zones in Chennai, and engaged monitoring officers for each district, to intensify containment measures. Public and private intrastate buses, including Metropolitan Transport Corporation services in Chennai, would be permitted with the passengers restricted to seating capacity. This applies to buses being operated to Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka too.

The government said certain restrictions had become imperative given the considerable increase in Covid cases daily and the reason for which was due to non-adherence to Covid-19 protocols, such as wearing of face masks in public places and maintaining social distance. The active cases that stood at 13,070 on March 28 rose to 30,131 on April 8, following which the health department has begun conducting 80,000 RT-PCR tests a day now and increased and aggressive testing in affected areas.

Round-the-clock monitoring will be done in containment zones by officials drawn from police, local bodies and health departments to check the movement of people. Volunteers will be engaged to cater to the essential needs of people in containment zones, besides taking control measures such as spraying disinfectant. Police, health, revenue and local body staff have been directed to intensify the fever camps, surveillance of people with symptoms of fever, cold and cough daily and contact tracing. The district collectors and commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation have been directed to enforce the measures strictly.