The Tamil Nadu government in a circular announced that movie theatres and malls in Taluks bordering other states, in 16 districts, will be shut down until the end of this month. This is in view of the spread of coronavirus in India.
According to the government's directives, these establishments will have to be shut down only in Taluks which border other states. There is no instruction to close down or limit visitors to establishments in the rest of these districts. The 16 districts include Theni, Kanyakumari, Thirupur, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Krishnagiri, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Erode, Dindigul, Dharmapuri and Virudhunagar. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami also appealed to people to reduce traveling to other states in the country at least for the next 15 days.
The Chief Minister had previously announced the shutting down of schools for students in kindergarten to class 5 across the state. The CM also appealed to people against gathering in huge numbers and to practice good self-hygiene.
CM Palaniswami has set aside Rs 60 crore from Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority (TNSDMA) to different departments in the state to tackle this pandemic. This includes Rs 30 crore to Health and Family Welfare Department, Rs 5 crore to transportation Department, Rs 4 crore to Greater Chennai Corporation, Rs 6 crore to Municipal Administration, Rs 5 crore to Rural Development Department, Rs 3 crore to Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Rs 2 crore to School Education and Higher Education Departments, Rs 0.5 crore to anganwadis and Rs 2.5 crore to district Collectors.
According to a bulletin issued by Health and Family Welfare Department on Saturday, 1,68,681 passengers have been screened at the Airports of Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, and Coimbatore so far. There are four testing centres in TN - King Institute of Preventive Medicine & Research, Guindy, Chennai, Theni VRDL, Thiruvarur VRDL and Tirunelveli VRDL.
So far, a total of 79 samples have been taken from people in the state. Speaking to TNM, Dr Kolandasamy, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine says for one to be tested, they will have to fall under the testing criteria. "There is a testing criterion - there must be travel history, symptoms or they must come under the list of contacts of someone suspected to be affected by the virus. In TN we had only one positive case and we took samples from 8 family members. Whereas in Kerala, the number of infected 19, they might have taken at least 8-10 samples per case. Naturally their number will go up to 200.”