As Tamil Nadu is three days ahead of hitting the deadline of the current tenure of the lockdown that was imposed to tackle the COVID-19 spread, the state government prepares to take a final call on whether the lockdown should be extended. The current tenure of the lockdown comes to an end by May 24 and Chief Minister MK Stalin will be convening the meeting with a top committee that was formed recently. 

MK Stalin has installed a committee with the representatives of all the parties to advise and recommend the Covid containment measures to the government. The first-of-its-kind committee consists of current MLAs of the assembly - Former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar (ADMK), Ezhilan (DMK), AM Munirathinam (Congress), GK Mani (PMK), Nainar Nagendran (BJP), Sadhan Thirumalaikumar (MDMK), SS Balaji (VCK), Ramachandran (CPI), VP Nagai Magai Mali (CPM), MH Jawahirullah (MMK), ER Eswaran (KDMK), T Velmurugan (TVK), and Poovai Jaganmoorthy (Purathchi Bharatam) as its members. 

Last week, MK Stalin has formed the committee and while it will be headed by the Chief Minister, Public Secretary D Jaganathan will be the member-secretary of the committee. The committee will be tabling the first meet on Saturday since its formation in which the members will be discussing about extending the lockdown in the state to curb the COVID-19 spread. 

According to reports, the meeting will take place at the Chief Secretariat at 11.30 am on Saturday and MK Stalin will be obtaining the views and recommendations from the members of all the party in enhancing the Covid containment measures in the state and enforcing strict restrictions. In light of the exponential rise of the COVID-19 cases, the reports suggest that the lockdown and current restrictions will be intact in the state after May 24. 

PMK founder Ramadoss had on Thursday slammed the MK Stalin's administration for not effectively imposing the lockdown in the state to arrest the spread. He further had questioned what stopped the government from strictly enforcing the lockdown. His criticism will be echoed by PMK's MLA GK Mani, who is part of the committee, in the meeting on Saturday. 

The reports say that following the committee's meeting, MK Stalin will be meeting the health experts and authorities and discuss the lockdown extension. Another factor that suggests the possible lockdown extension in the state is a statement from Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan. On Thursday, Radhakrishnan said that Tamil Nadu will witness a peak of COVID-19 cases during the end of May - on May 29 and May 30. 

The Health Secretary has also appealed to the people to adhere to the lockdown guidelines and restrictions to break the chain of the transmission of the viral infection. As the current tenure of the lockdown comes to an end by Monday, Stalin will likely take a final call in the evening hours of Saturday after meeting the committee and the health experts. At the current condition, Tamil Nadu can expect the extension of the lockdown to contain the spread. 

On Friday, Tamil Nadu has reported 36,184 fresh cases, 24,478 discharges, and 467 deaths. The death count has been recorded as the highest single-day rise since the outbreak began in the state. Overall, Tamil Nadu has recorded 17,70,988 COVID-19 cases so far as of Friday of which 2,74,629 are active, 14,76,761 cases have been discharged, and 19,598 had succumbed to the viral infection.