Tamil Nadu's Health Minister Says No Need For Complete Lockdown, Present Restrictions Are Sufficient

The state government has imposed restrictions such as a night curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the restrictions of devotees in places of worship, and overall shutdown on Sundays.

According to a state government directive, the Tamil Nadu government has also ordered that the special inter-district buses for Pongal operate at 75% full. Devotees would not be allowed in all houses of worship between January 14 and January 18. Because of the increased number of Covid-19 cases, all of these restrictions have been extended until January 31.

The state government's directive came after chief minister MK Stalin attended a meeting earlier in the day to assess the Covid-19 and Omicron situation across Tamil Nadu.

The state administration, on the other hand, has granted Jallikattu with a few conditions. The contentious sport is held every year during Pongal, a three-day harvest celebration that begins on January 14 this year.

According to a government declaration, players, spectators, and officials in control of the event must receive two vaccinations and have a negative RT-PCR test within 48 hours. It also set a limit on the number of spectators who could attend.

Jallikattu was granted certain standard operating procedures by the state government last year as well (SOPs).

The data released by the state health department on Monday mentioned that Tamil Nadu reported 13,990 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths. There are presently 62,767 active instances of in Tamil Nadu, with 2,547 individuals recovering from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Covid test positivity rate in Chennai has risen from 3.3 percent on January 1 to 17.4 percent on January 9, more than double the state average of 1.4 percent to 8.7 percent during the same time.