Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami would be taking the final call on relaxing the restrictions of the lockdown that has been imposed to curb the spread of the Coronavirus in the state. The announcement is likely to be made on Monday after the expert committee comprised of 21 members discloses its report to the Chief Minister with recommendations on whether the lockdown should be eased.

The speculations on easing the restrictions raised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, on last week, said that some relaxations would be consented to ease the lockdown after April 20 based on the reporting of the cases. However, the government has reaffirmed that no relaxations would be awarded to the hotspots that fall under the category of red zones which have been mapped based on the spread of the pandemic.

On Sunday, after Tamil Nadu had seen one of the highest single-day rises of the positive cases, the state government clarified that all the restrictions would be in place until the Chief Minister made the official announcements of pouring some relaxations. According to the reports, the expert committee formed by the government would submit its report on Monday based on which the Chief Minister will issue the final directive.

He would inspect and review the recommendations of the committee and take the final call amid the outbreak. However, the reports have stated that its less likely the government would announce the relaxations as 28 out of 37 districts in the state have been mapped as the hotspots for the virus leaving the state government to let the restrictions alive until May 3rd. 

The Central government has issued guidelines that certain activities would not be permitted in the hotspots and containment zones to curb the spread. According to the Times of India, the state public experts said that the expert committee should be taking a cautious approach towards easing the relaxations. 

As per the Center's guidelines, the state governments must announce which establishments, services, and industries would be permitted to resume its operations after April 20 based on the state of the outbreak. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and took stock of the situation and the measures taken by the state government. As of Monday morning, Tamil Nadu has reported with 1,477 cases of which 1,050 are active, 411 have been discharged while 16 patients had succumbed to the virus.