Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has said that people haven't realized the severity of Coronavirus and they have been violating the lockdown rules despite the directives and advisories from the government.     

The statement from the Chief Minister has come during the review meeting with the coordination teams and with IAS and IPS officers held at the Secretariat on Tuesday. He said that people in the state have been violating and disregarding physical distancing norms and guidelines and they haven't learned from what has happened in the United States, Italy, and Spain as these countries have higher death tolls. 

People seemed to have not realized the severity of the disease and they have been refusing to stay with the directives and guidelines issued by the government towards containing the spread. The Chief Minister indicated that the state has been at the initial stage of the pandemic and it can be combatted only if people extend their co-operation to the state government. He, for yet another time, appealed to people to realize the severity and to abide by the rules and guidelines.

He further stated that the police and local administrations have been carrying out street campaigns to create awareness to the public. The Chief Minister added that the real challenge of maintaining social distancing was seen in the vegetable markets in the municipal corporations like Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, and Madurai, as breaking the protocols and guidelines might let human to human transmitting virus to have rampant spread.

According to the reports, the decision of extending the lockdown beyond May 3 would be taken by the Chief Minister based on the recommendations and suggestions disclosed by the expert committee installed by the state government for advising on containing the spread. However, the government is less likely would extend the complete shutdown in five major corporations. 

His appeal has come when the state has recorded the highest single-day rise of the positive cases on Tuesday, as it has reported 121 cases in a single day taking the tally of affected cases to more than 2000 including the active, discharged, and deceased patients.