Sunday Lockdown in Tamil Nadu: Know time, guidelines, rules; What is allowed & what is not allowed

New Delhi, Jan 05: Tamil Nadu government has decided to announce complete lockdown on Sundays in view of the rising number of Omicron-driven coronavirus cases. A night curfew will be imposed from tomorrow from 10pm to 5 am in Tamil Nadu.

The decision was taken after Chief Minister MK Stalin held a crucial meeting with state Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and state public health officials to discuss the possible restrictions.

• According to the new rules, all shops, hotels and other establishments will not be allowed during the night curfew and Sunday lockdown. However, restaurants are allowed the option of takeaway from 7 am to 10 pm.
• Essential services, including milk and newspaper delivery, hospitals, ATMs, petrol, private and bus services, and diesel pumps can work normally.
• Metro services will not function on Sundays and during the night curfew.
• Citizens will be allowed to travel during 10 pm and 5 am on all days but they will have to show proof of travel.
• Only 50 per cent occupancy shall be allowed in buses, suburban trains, and Metro rail.
• Classes for LKG and UKG will be shut, while only online classes will be held for classes 1 to 9.
• Physical classes will be allowed for Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12. All colleges, except medical and paramedical colleges, will be closed till January 20.
• Only 100 people will be allowed to attend weddings, while the limit for funerals is 50.
• Theatres, shops, gyms will have to operate with 50% occupancy.
• Amusement parks would be shutdown.
• Beaches will be open to the public but only for walking.
• Public would not be allowed in all places of worship on three days -Fridays, Saturday and Sunday- a week.
• The present bar for social, cultural and political congregations would continue to be in place.
• All government and privately organised harvest festival 'Pongal' and cultural events are postponed.

Tamil Nadu is witnessing a steady surge in covid cases with 2,731 fresh cases being reported on Tuesday, pushing the tally to 27,55,587. While nine more people succumbed to the virus, taking the toll to 36,805, a department bulletin said.

As covid cases continue to rise across the country, several states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and others have imposed covid restrictions including night curfew, weekend curfew to contain the rising infections.