In the middle of the high time of deciding on the lockdown extension in the state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has convened a meet with the medical experts' committee on Saturday to formulate the road ahead for the state in tackling the COVID-19 spread as the current spell of lockdown hits its deadline on Sunday - May 31st. 

The meeting has lasted for over one hour during which they disclosed the current state of the pandemic in Tamil Nadu and suggested their inputs on how the government can grip up its containment strategies to curb the menace amid having the rapid spread. After meeting the Chief Minister, the experts addressed the reporters on their recommendations being made to the government on the lockdown extension. 

While addressing the reporters, Pradeep Gaur, who is the representative of the committee said that the expert committee has suggested the Chief Minister to maintain status-quo and extend the lockdown and restrictions in Chennai and its nearby districts as these districts have more positive cases and Chennai has a sharp surge due to the city's dense population and the government may provide relaxations to rest of the districts.

According to the expert committee, they have advised the Chief Minister to keep up the restrictions and lockdown in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur, and Kancheepuram districts and the restrictions can be eased in the rest of the districts based on the ground situations. The committee further stated that these four districts account for 77% of the total cases reported in the state.

The committee advised the government to pace up the COVID-19 testing in the albeit of doing the highest number of tests in the country. By asserting that there are no grounds for the community transmission in Chennai, the experts asked the Chief Minister not to resume the road and rail transportations in Chennai and not to re-open the places of public gatherings and worships. 

They further stated that the lockdown shouldn't be in the same form across the state and it may be tightened and relaxed based on the virus spread. They appealed to the general public not to get panic on the surge and advised to wear face masks and adhere to the social distancing norms and guidelines issued by the government. The expert committee has been reiterating the government to ramp up the testing and earlier this week it has warned that Chennai would see 2 lakh cases by June end if the infections weren't identified at the early stages. 

The expert committee has been pressing the government to carry out aggressive testing, effective treatment, and isolation to identify the infections and carriers in the state. According to them, the state must at least test 18,000 samples per day to curb the spread and protect the vulnerable people. The state is currently performing 11,000 tests on an average. 

On Friday, while addressing the meeting with the district collectors, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has said that Chennai has become a challenge for the government to contain the spread. The government has stated that the decision on the lockdown extension would be taken as per the inputs from the collectors, expert committee, and the Central government. Through the inputs from the committee, it can be learned that the lockdown would be extended in Chennai and the Chief Minister would likely be announcing the fresh guidelines on Sunday. According to the reports, the existing services in Chennai would less likely be suspended and the government may not be providing further relaxations amid its move of having gradual exit from the lockdown. All commercial establishments, recreational centers, educational institutions would remain closed and the lockdown 5.0 will likely stay till the second week of June.

Must read: 'Chennai is a huge challenge' - says CM EPS! What's the state of the lockdown?