The state government of Tamil Nadu has, on Monday, issued the orders of extending the suspension of the public and the private transports across the state, and the orders have come two days ahead of the deadline of the current period of suspension of transportations, owing to the peaking COVID-19 cases.

Initially, when the state was mapped under the sixth phase of the lockdown on July 1st, the state government has imposed the complete shutdown on the inter-district private and public transportations and intra-district public transportations till July 15 with permitting the movements of the emergency services that are mandated to obtain the valid e-passes from the government.

The state government has directed people to ply within the districts in their own vehicles without obtaining e-pass. As the first two weeks of July had reported rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in some of the districts outside Chennai, it was speculated that the government might refrain from resuming the public transportations beyond July 15.  

As the sequel of the spread, the government has, on Monday, announced that the public and private transportations barred across Tamil Nadu till July 31st to curb the spread of COVID-19. According to the press release, the government said that the suspension of the public and private transportations which were earlier suspended till July 15 have now been suspended till July 31st with the view of containing the virus spread.

தமிழகத்தில் ஜூலை 31 ஆம் தேதி வரை அரசு மற்றும் தனியார் பொது பேருந்து போக்குவரத்து சேவைகள் இயங்காது - தமிழக அரசு#lockdown @TNGOVDIPR pic.twitter.com/UpxIFKFach

— PIB in Tamil Nadu 🇮🇳 (@pibchennai) July 13, 2020

According to the reports, the existing restrictions will be carry forwarded till July 31st and no public transportations will be available within and between the districts, while people must obtain the pass for their inter-district travels. The government stated that the e-pass will be provided for traveling for extremely emergency purposes like death, marriage, and medical emergencies. 

However, people can use their own vehicles to carry out travels within the districts and unnecessary travels have been restricted. By issuing the new orders, the government has appealed to people to extend their co-operation for the government in its containment measures to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, amid witnessing sharpest spikes in southern districts with Madurai emerging as an epicenter.