Amid the floating speculations on the lockdown extension, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has, on Monday, announced that the prevailing statewide lockdown and curfew have been extended till April 30th as the state has been aiming to strengthen the preventive measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in its territory.

Edappadi Palaniswami's announcement of keeping the role of the embargo for the entire month has come exactly one day before the completion of the current spell. The current tenure of the lockdown would be coming to an end on April 14th after running for three weeks since March 24th. However, despite being under the lockdown and curfew to limit and restrict the movement of the people to avoid getting into the risk posed by the human to human transmitting virus, the state has been reporting surging cases.

The state has been adding about 60 to 70 positive cases in an average per day since March 31st and currently, it has become the third state in India to have the most number of the cases after Maharashtra and Delhi. The state government has been considering extending the lockdown beyond April 14th to stem the spread. On last Friday, the committee of medical experts that was installed by the state government had recommended the Chief Minister to extend the lockdown for two more weeks as the state has been reporting more number of cases each day.

The Chief Minister had echoed the recommendation in the virtual meeting convened by the Prime Minister on Saturday and asked the Central government to extend the nationwide lockdown. The government machinery had beaconed about the lockdown extension which has become official now as the state has been preparing to go through the second spell of the lockdown. According to the reports, the guidelines for the residents and commercial establishments would remain the same. 

The Rice Family Card Holders will be provided with their rations for May like how they received earlier. The package would consist of 1 kilo of sugar, 1 kilo of pulses, 1 liter of cooking oil, and the usual quantity of rice and will be provided at PDS shops for free. The government will provide Rs 1000 for all the workers who belong to unorganized sectors including construction laborers as the second installment.

Along with them, Migrant laborers would also be distributed with the provisions for May which include 15 kilos of rice, one-kilo pulses, and one liter of cooking oil and the reports stated that the restrictions would remain the same and the curfew and prohibitory orders would be in place till April 30th. Tamil Nadu has become one of the states with the most number of cases to extend the statewide lockdown and it comes at the high time when Prime Minister Modi would be addressing the nation on Tuesday at 10 am during which he would likely air the announcement on the nationwide lockdown.