Tamil Nadu govt announces new restrictions till Jan 31 as Covid cases rise | 10 points

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The Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced that a new set of restrictions will be imposed in the state until January 31, 2022. The state has been witnessing a spike in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the past week. Chief Minister M K Stalin announced the following restrictions after a review meeting on the Covid situation in the state. 

1. While playschools and kindergarten sections cannot be run, there won't be any direct classes for standards 1-8 till January 10, Chief Minister M K Stalin said. Classes for standards 9-12, colleges and ITIs will be held in compliance with Standard Operating Procedures while existing guidelines will apply for places of worship, he said.
2. Dine-in services at restaurants, hotels, and bakeries should be restricted to 50 percent of the capacity, while amusement parks can be operated only with a similar number of persons.
3. The 50 percent cap will also apply to textile showrooms, jewelry shops, gyms and yoga centers, multiplex/cinema theatres (of the allowed seats), beauty spas and salons, and indoor games, he said.
4. Metro rail services here can operate only with 50 percent seating capacity, while only seated passengers will be allowed in government bus services, the chief minister added.
5. Participants in weddings should be restricted to 100 while only 50 persons would be allowed in death-related events.
6. Urging people to get vaccinated, the chief minister also stressed other covid-appropriate behavior such as wearing a face mask. All employees in commercial establishments should have been vaccinated against Covid-19. Further, action will be taken if mask-wearing is not followed by establishments and customers.
7. As part of virus containment measures, Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination-Covid-19 Appropriate Behaviour will be strictly implemented, Stalin said.
8. Further, only essential services should be allowed in containment zones while a door-to-door survey by committees in such areas will also be undertaken to prevent the spread of the contagion, said the CM. Those violating pandemic containment measures will be fined, the CM warned.
9. He appealed to people to refrain from crowding during the coming festive season and stressed social distancing and wearing of masks.
10. Tamil Nadu reported 1,155 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, up from the 890 a day before.

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