On the first day of the new Covid-19 restrictions and curfew, the Chennai police department has booked a pile of cases against the residents for defying the norms. Tamil Nadu government's new restrictions of Sunday lockdown and night curfew had come into force on January 6 - Thursday and on the first day of the restrictions, over 5,000 cases were booked by the police and hundreds of vehicles were seized. 

According to reports, the Chennai Police have booked 5,223 people on Thursday, during the first night curfew, and the officials had seized over 500 vehicles for violating the Covid-19 norms. The police had also collected Rs 10.44 lakh as fines from the residents for their violations. On Friday, the police had registered 462 cases against those who were found not wearing masks in the city.

The Chennai Police have highlighted to the residents that the lockdown and curfew would be enforced strictly and the movements of the residents would be monitored by the patrols. With the containing the violations, Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal had set up 'Special Mask Enforcement Teams' in all police stations of Chennai to have extensive surveillance in and around the city. 

The police teams are tasked to patrol various localities under their station limits, including markets, shopping malls, parks, beaches, bus stands, and wedding halls and the officials have been appealing to the public to adhere to the restrictions as the state has been battling the twin whammies of the Covid-19 pandemic and its variant Omicron. The police officials were deployed to every major signal and junctions of the city to monitor whether the people are wearing masks. 

As per the fresh round of restrictions that came into force within the first week of the New Year, the Tamil Nadu government has imposed a complete lockdown on Sundays and night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am. During the tenure of these restrictions, all establishments, except those that are categorized as essential, would be closed. On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that both the Omicron and Delta variants are spreading like a Tsunami in the state. 

Earlier, he said that the third wave has emerged in Tamil Nadu and urged the people to get vaccinated. Tamil Nadu has been reporting a big jump in daily Covid cases and on Friday, the state has reported 8,981 fresh Covid-19 cases, which is 2,000 more cases than what was reported on Thursday. The state has reported 984 discharges and eight deaths on Friday. According to the state health department, Tamil Nadu has recorded 27,76,413 cases so far as of Friday of which 30,817 are active, 27,08,763 were discharged and 36,833 had succumbed to the viral infection.