Tamil Nadu extends lockdown till May 31

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Sunday extended the Covid-19 lockdown till May 31 subject to certain relaxations in the restrictions.

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said based on the views expressed by a medical expert committee, district collectors and senior ministers, the lockdown has been extended till the midnight of May 31.

He said some relaxations have been made only for 25 districts -- Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Tiruppur, Namakkal, Karur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi, Kanyakumari, Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Pudukkottai, Trichy, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Vellore and Niligiris.

The relaxations are:

* No e-pass needed to ply vehicles within the district;

* For inter-district travel e-pass is needed;

* Not more than 20 passengers in the case a bus, seven persons in the case of a van, three in a sports utility vehicles and two persons in a small car operated by private companies or for government work;

* Taxis can be hired without e-pass for intra-district travel for emergency;

* 100 per cent workforce allowed for MNREGA work;

* For factories located outside Chennai, 100 per cent workforce is allowed for factories with less than 100 workers and for factories with over 100 workers, the workforce allowed is 50 per cent of the total workers subject to a maximum of 100 workers;

* Valuation of 12th standard exam papers will be allowed;

* Coaching for national and international sporting events is allowed with the permission of district collectors and

* In the 12 districts where intra-district transport is not allowed, plying of taxis and autorickshaws is allowed with e-pass for medical emergencies only.

Palaniswami said the government will announce further relaxations once the coronavirus spread is reduced.

He said action is being taken to bring back Tamils stranded in other states by train in stages and with Central government permission two Rajdhani Express trains between New Delhi and Chennai will be operated per week.

According to Palaniswami all other restrictions that are currently on will continue till further orders.

Train/air/bus services with the permission of Central and state government will be operated.