When Tamil Nadu is ten days ahead of the crucial assembly polls, the state has been disturbed to witness the resurgence of COVID-19 with a sharp rise of fresh cases. In what has become an alarming development, Tamil Nadu has recorded a rate of increase of cases at 135% in 12 days. Though the state is reporting more cases, Health Minister Vijayabaskar had asserted that the government has no plan of imposing lockdown in the state. 

On Friday, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan IAS has reviewed the measures at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai after which he had addressed the reporters. He put out how the state has initiated the measures to tackle the rise of the second wave and said that the behavioral change in the people was the reason why the cases are increasing in the state.

He said, "People are wearing masks when they see officials. I am asking the people, are we Coronavirus? We are not the virus and the virus is amongst us. It is roaming without the mask and you need to wear masks to protect yourself". By asserting that the double mutant strain has not been confirmed so far in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan said there is no link between the foreign strains and the increase in cases in Tamil Nadu. He said that people are forgetting to wear masks in public places and that's the reason why the cases are rising again. 

The Health Secretary further said that the people in the state who were diagnosed with the UK and the South African strain of Coronavirus have recovered completely. Radhakrishnan added that 512 streets in Tamil Nadu are under micro-containment restrictions due to three or more cases of COVID-19 and affirmed that the state has enough beds in hospitals and ready to treat patients confirmed of COVID. He stated that Tamil Nadu has 17 lakh doses of vaccines in hand at present and 10 lakh more doses are yet to be received. 

Last week, as an effect of rising COVID-19 cases, the Tamil Nadu government has ordered to shut down the schools and physical classes for students in classes 9, 10, and 11. The government had also ordered to close the colleges and it had encouraged the schools and colleges to conduct classes online, which had seemingly brought back the new normal into force to curb the spread. 

On the other side, the government has permitted the schools to conduct physical classes for the students of class 12 as they will be appearing for their board examinations in May. The schools are directed to conduct the classes by adhering to the COVID-19 protocols. According to the state health department, Tamil Nadu has reported 8,73,219 cases so far as of Thursday including 1,779 fresh cases that were reported on Thursday. Of the total cases, 10,487 are active, 8,50,091 have been discharged, and 12,641 had succumbed to the viral infection. Last Saturday, Tamil Nadu had reported over a thousand cases for the first time in 81 days.