(This article is authored by Alar)

With the sharp spike of covid cases, Tamil Nadu has become one of the top infected states in the country by the pandemic and as a sequel to the surge, the state's health department has brought back the mask mandate and imposed the guidelines of wearing masks in public places. It is the first time in several months that the state government has imposed the mask mandate owing to the growing cases. 

India witnessed 17,073 new cases reported in the last 24 hours till Monday at 8 am and Tamil Nadu's tally has climbed up nearly to 1,500 cases on Sunday. The impact of the third corona wave in Tamil Nadu was severe in late January and early February. Later, the corona exposure began to decline and it is now rapidly increasing again, which has distressed the state. 

As per the official bulletin released by the health department, 25,591 people in Tamil Nadu were tested for Covid on Sunday. Currently, Covid infection is on the rise in various districts- predominantly in the districts like Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Coimbatore, and Kanyakumari. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu recorded 1,472 cases and of these, around 1,100 cases were reported from these districts while no Covid deaths were recorded on Sunday. 

As per the tally, Tamil Nadu has reported 34,68,344 Covid cases so far as of Sunday of which 7,458 cases are active, 34,22,860 cases have been discharged, and 38,026 cases had succumbed to the viral infection. On Sunday, 624 people in Chennai and 241 people in Chengalpattu tested Covid positive. 

In this case, the Department of Medicine and Public Welfare has warned that wearing a face mask in public to curb the spread of corona will result in fines. The Department of Health Ministry has announced that those who do not wear masks in public places and those who do not follow the Corona guidelines properly will be fined under the existing Tamil Nadu Public Health Act 1939.