The Tamil Nadu government, which extended the COVID-19 lockdown across the State with existing restrictions and relaxations till April 30, has allowed local authorities to impose fresh restrictions to contain the spread of the pandemic in their respective areas.
“Based on their assessment of the situation, local restrictions at district/sub-district and city/ward level, with a view to contain the spread of COVID-19 shall be imposed,” Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan said in a G.O. issued in this regard on Wednesday.
Click here to read/download the G.O. on fresh lockdown guidelines
All the District Collectors are to strictly enforce various measures spelt out by the State government, he said and added: “For the enforcement of physical distancing, the District Administrations, as far as possible, use the provisions of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973.”
Any person violating these measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC and other legal provisions as applicable.
The G.O. also issued the protocol for Test-Track-Treat and focused on the vaccination drive. “Vaccination against COVID-19, in the present scenario, is critical to break the chain of transmission. Therefore, the district administrations shall rapidly step up the pace of vaccination, to cover all priority groups, as recommended by NEGVAC and approved by the Central government, urgently and in an expeditious manner,” the order said.
