Though the Central government has spelled to remove the requirement of e-permits and approvals for the inter and intra-state movements of people and goods as part of the fourth phase of unlocking the lockdown, the Tamil Nadu government is mulling to keep its hope on the e-passes to mitigate the spread and to trace the contact as the Chief Minister has strongly pressed the use of the e-pass system in the state to trace the contacts and monitor the movements. 

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had conveyed the virtual meeting with all the district collectors on Saturday during which he took stock of COVID-19 situation amid peaking cases and deaths. According to the reports, the virtual meet had lasted for four hours during which he reviewed the situation in every district. The Chief Minister raised his concerns over soaring cases in Salem, Cuddalore, Coimbatore, Vellore, Chengalpat, and Thiruvallur districts. 

By directing the collectors of these districts to adopt a strategy to bring down the cases including to hold the fever camps and to surveil the affected areas, the Chief Minister had instructed all the collectors to create awareness for people to approach hospitals in 24 hours if in case they develop the symptoms including fever, dry cough, cold, tiredness, headache, loss of smell and taste. The Chief Minister also asked the collector to give priority to the elderly people and those with co-morbidities in taking the COVID-19 tests. 

He further asked them to pace up the test results. According to the reports, the state government has spent Rs 7,162 crore so far in controlling, containing, treating, and initiating relief measures against the COVID-19 viral infection. The reports say that the Chief Minister has been eyeing to pour more relaxations to revive the economy and he has also asked Cuddalore and Thiruvannamalai districts to ramp up the testing in the wake of the high positivity rates. 

Though the state government considers providing relaxations, the Chief Minister aims to keep the e-pass system for all the intra and inter-state movements of people in place as relaxing the norm would in turn push the government to meet more challenges in mitigating the spread. The state government has on Saturday issued a directive to the Chennai Corporation to deploy adequate measures to contain the spike of fresh cases as the city has been witnessing the influx of more people from across the state. 

In the 'Unlock 4' guidelines, which would be coming into effect on September 1, 2020, the Central government said that there shall be no restriction on inter and intra-state movement of people and goods and no shall be no requirement of approvals and e-permits from the state governments for such movements. However, the Tamil Nadu government is less likely to repeal the e-pass system and at the current state, the state government has ordered to provide e-pass to everyone who applies for the intra-state movements. 

Some reports suggest that the Tamil Nadu government would resume the government bus services across the state from September and the government has also been considering re-opening the medium-sized temples. By citing that the government is yet to issue the guidelines, the reports said the government would likely unveil the pack of relaxations in September including withdrawal of complete lockdown on Sundays next month. Currently, the state of Tamil Nadu is observing the complete lockdown on Sundays where only extremely essential services are allowed across the state. 

The reports outlined that the government buses will be allowed to ply with restrictions and mandatory guidelines like wearing masks in the bus and 60% of the seating capacity. In the current trend, the government eyes to start the government bus services from September 1. However, the reports stated that the state government would less likely consent the resumption of the metro rail services in Chennai while the Central government had permitted the resumption of metro rail in a graded manner across the country from September 7 as the state government would be extending the lockdown in Tamil Nadu with theaters, schools, and other recreational clubs continue to remain closed. 

With multiple reports, the speculations and expectations have been surfaced around the Tamil Nadu government on its road ahead for September at the high time when the state has been witnessing the sharpest spikes of COVID-19 cases and deaths. As of Saturday-August 29, Tamil Nadu has reported 4,15,590 cases so far of which 52,726 are active, 3,55,727 have been discharged, and 7,137 had succumbed to the viral infection. For the past 27 days, including Saturday, the state has reported 3,005 deaths. The reports stated that Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami would be issuing the guidelines on Saturday on the state's road map for September. 

Must-read: Unlock 4: From metro rails to open-air theaters- What's banned and permitted in September?