Tamil Nadu Latest News Today: “One week’s time has been given to people to get at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, failing which those unvaccinated people to be not allowed to enter public places like hotels, shopping malls amd other commercial establishments,” Madurai Collector Aneesh Sekhar told ANI.
Thiruvananthapuram: In a bid to combat the spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus, Tamil Nadu’s Madurai announced that unvaccinated people would not be allowed to enter malls, shopping complexes, and other public places from next week. This comes days after two Omicron cases were detected in Karnataka— the first in the country. Of the two cases of the new Omicron variant detected in the State on Thursday, one 66-year old is a South African national who had left the country after testing negative, while the other is a local person — a doctor aged 46, with no travel history.
“One week’s time has been given to people to get at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, failing which those unvaccinated people to be not allowed to enter public places like hotels, shopping malls amd other commercial establishments,” Madurai Collector Aneesh Sekhar told ANI.
Similar Restrictions Announced in Karnataka
Similar restrictions were announced by Karnataka on Friday. The state had set forth certain preventive measures that include compulsory two-dose vaccination for entering malls, cinema halls or theatres, and for parents of school or college-going students. Intensifying screening of international passengers at airports, asking educational institutions to postpone their public events, and limiting gatherings, meetings, conferences to 500 people, are among the other measures announced by the government.
Three International Flyers Including a Child Test Positive For Covid in TN
Three international air travellers, including a child, who had arrived in Tamil Nadu from Singapore and the United Kingdom have tested positive for Covid-19 and the government ruled out social media reports claiming they were cases of Omicron but said tests only would conclude if they are infected with the latest variant of the coronavirus.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said on Friday that a man who arrived at Tiruchirappalli from Singapore in the wee hours and the child who had come along with its family here from the UK have tested positive for Covid and regretted that there were claims in social media that both were infected with the Omicron variant.
“The passenger from Singapore arrived at Tiruchirappalli at 3.30 AM (on Friday). He tested positive and has been shifted to the local medical college where he has been quarantined. His sample will undergo genome sequencing and we have a facility here for this purpose. However, it will also be sent to a lab in Bengaluru and only after that result would we come to know if he is infected with Omicron,” the minister added.
