In what may come as a disappointment to tipplers in Tamil Nadu's capital, the state government has decided that it will not open TASMAC liquor shops on May 7, as previously decided. Chennai has witnessed a surge of cases in the last few days, forcing the government to postpone the date of opening state-run liquor shops in the city.
For the rest of the state however, liquor shops will open as planned. Visuals from Monday showed tipplers from border districts rushing to line up outside liquor shops in other states to purchase alcohol, paying no heed to physical distancing. Several opposition parties in the state had criticised the Tamil Nadu's government's decision to open liquor shops, when Chennai was still grappling with the pandemic
Chennai is currently Tamil Nadu’s biggest hotspot contributing to 1724 cases out of a total 3,550. Two-hundred-and-sixty-six of the new cases reported on Monday are from the district. Its biggest cluster so far is the Koyambedu marker cluster where farmers and vendors from other districts - travel to Koyambedu to sell their produce. Due to this, the effect of the Koyambedu cluster has spread to other districts including Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruvallur, Villupuram and Cuddalore.
Thirty-six persons in Ariyalur district have been confirmed to have COVID-19 and the Perambalur district administration has confirmed 23 cases of COVID-19 from the Koyambed cluster as of Monday evening and have also traced and quarantined 600 persons who had visited the market in the last few days.
Villupuram has confirmed 76 patients while 129 persons in Cuddalore district have been confirmed to have the infection due to this cluster.
The market was completely shut down on Monday night following this.
The break-up of other new cases in the state of Monday is - Thiruvannamalai - 11, Dindigul - 10, Tenkasi and Thiruvallur - nine each, Ariyalur - six, Chengalpattu and Trichy - four each, Ranipet - three, Thiruvarur and Virudhunagar - two each, Karur, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, and Tirupattur - one each.