Tamil Nadu has been going through the extended phase of lockdown as its weaponry to beat the horrendous second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline for the current phase of lockdown is on June 7 and as the state is two days ahead of the deadline, it becomes imperative to the government to announce the road map for the state after June 7 on whether or not to extend the lockdown and restrictions.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will be meeting the experts and officials on Friday to discuss the lockdown extension after June 7. The meeting would be unveiled amid speculations of various relaxations in the state in the backdrop of declining COVID-19 cases. The health experts suggest that the lockdown isn't the only solution and restrictions can be eased in the regions where the cases are dropping. They further recommend the government augment the vaccination programme.

Deputy Director of the National Institute of Epidemiology Dr Prabhdeep Kaur, who is also a member of the state medical expert committee, has said that the lockdown should be relaxed in certain parts of the state where COVID-19 cases are declining. She said, "The second wave started and peaked in different parts of the state at different times. Bed availability is also different in every district. So, the same rules of lockdown cannot be extended to all districts."

Some of the experts say that there are no epidemiological reasons to extend the lockdown uniformly across the state to contain the pandemic. They further suggest the government concentrate on addressing the virus mutations, augmenting vaccination, and ensuring people's behaviour and adherence to the protocols. 

According to reports, a week after fresh cases began to fall from a peak of 36,184 cases on May 21, active cases in the state began to drop from May 28 for the first time since March 6. The experts are hopeful that the deaths will be declining in the coming days. As the Chief Minister is meeting the experts on Friday, it can be expected that he will announce relaxations for the lockdown in the districts that have fewer COVID-19 cases. 

In this vertical, the western districts like Coimbatore and Tiruppur would see a tight lockdown as the sequel of more cases while Chennai would see light relaxations. MK Stalin has announced a complete lockdown on May 10 and the lockdown was then extended till June 7.  With the suggestions from the experts, Stalin can permit the resumptions of essential shops but Tamil Nadu is not close to enjoying complete scale of relaxations. 

As the Central government's parameters, the districts can be unlocked only if the test positivity rate is below 5% for at least a week, a minimum of 70% of the vulnerable population including people above the age of 60 and those above 45 years with comorbidities are vaccinated with two COVID-19 vaccine doses. If the Center's parameters come to the picture, the complete relaxation is impossible at the current juncture as most of the districts have reported over 5% of the test positivity rate. 

On Thursday, Tamil Nadu has reported 24,405 fresh COVID-19 cases, 32,221 discharges, and 460 deaths. Overall, the state has recorded 21,72,751 COVID-19 cases of which 2,80,426 are active, 18,66,660 have been discharged, and 25,665 had succumbed to the viral infection.