Sunday lockdown and night curfew are back in Tamil Nadu, thanks to the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and the spread of the Omicron variant. The people of the state are just five days into the New Year and the growing threat of the pandemic has brought them back to the lockdown era as they are pushed to spend their weekends in a confinement. The state government has on Wednesday - January 5 issued new restrictions, that will come to effect on January 6.

The new restrictions have come after Chief Minister MK Stalin had held a high-level meeting that was attended by Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, and state public health officials including TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. As per the order of new restrictions, Tamil Nadu will be imposed with a complete lockdown every Sunday and the state will have a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am every day from Thursday.  

Shops, hotels, and other establishments will be closed during the night curfew and on Sunday while the essential services including private and public bus services, milk and newspaper distribution, hospitals, ATMs, petrol and diesel stations will be allowed to function. Restaurants are allowed to carry out the parcel services from 7 am to 10 pm and the public will be allowed to travel during 10 pm and 5 am on all days if they are travelling on buses and trains or from the airports. 

They have to show the proof of their travel, failing which they will not be allowed to proceed further. The government said that the metro trains will not be functioning on Sundays and during the night curfew and all public transport, including metro and buses will function at 50% capacity. The government has said that only 100 people will be allowed in case of weddings, while the limit for funerals has been capped to 50.

While the government has ordered to shut the amusement parks, it has said that theatres, shops, and gyms will be allowed to function with 50% occupancy. Beaches will be open to the public only for walking and religious places will be open but people will not be allowed to enter such places on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The government has also banned all Pongal festivities, gatherings, rallies, and cultural fests in colleges and other educational institutions. 

On the front of schools and colleges, the government said that there will be no classes for LKG and UKG, while only online classes will be held for classes 1 to 9. The students of classes 10, 11, and 12 will be allowed to attend physical classes because of the upcoming board examinations. All colleges, except medical and paramedical colleges, will be closed till January 20. Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that owing to the complete lockdown on Sundays, the vaccination camps will be organized on Saturdays. 

In the official statement, Chief Minster MK Stalin has appealed to the public to adhere to the guidelines and to receive vaccinations at the earliest. He urged the people to wear masks, observe physical distancing, and wash hands frequently to prevent the virus spread. Earlier, Health Minister Ma Subramanian has addressed the people that there is no reason to worry but the necessary precautions to curb the pandemic must be followed. For the past few days, Tamil Nadu has been recording a big surge in the Covid-19 cases. 

According to reports, new Covid-19 cases had risen nearly 58% in a day. On Monday, Tamil Nadu has reported 1,728 Covid cases and on Tuesday, the state has recorded 2,731 cases, the highest jump in recent times. Chennai has recorded 1,489 new cases compared to 876 on Monday. The health department has said that 28 districts in Tamil Nadu have reported a surge in fresh infections. The state has recorded over a hundred Omicron cases so far as of Tuesday.