1. No Extension of Complete Lockdown in 5 TN Cities, Existing Restrictions to Continue
Tamil Nadu will not be extending the complete lockdown that it had announced in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, and Tiruppur municipal corporations earlier last week.
Chief Secretary to Government K Shanmugam in his letter to all district Collectors has said that when the complete lockdown ends on 28 April, Tuesday 9:00 pm in Salem and Tiruppur and on 29 April, Wednesday 9:00 pm in Chennai, Madurai, and Coimbatore, the lockdown norms that were in place prior to the announcement of complete lockdown will continue to be in place until 3 May as announced by the Prime Minister of the country.
Tamil Nadu government announced complete lockdown, under the Disaster Management Act of 2005, in these above mentioned five municipal corporations from 26 April.
(Source: The News Minute)
2. Delivery Partner Tests COVID-19 Positive in Chennai
A delivery partner with online food ordering and delivery app Swiggy was among those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the city.
The Greater Chennai Corporation confirmed this and said that contact tracing was under way. “We are tracing 64 contacts and taking necessary action. Swiggy has also been cooperating with us for the same,” said a senior official.
Six members of his family have tested negative and have currently been quarantined. In an official statement, Swiggy said that in accordance with predefined protocols, the delivery partner was quarantined as soon as the incident was discovered and he was currently in the care of health authorities.
(Source: The Hindu)
3. Chennai Records 94 COVID-19 Cases on 29 April, City’s Total at 767
Chennai has once again recorded a large number of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Out of the 104 positive cases in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, 94 cases are from Chennai. With this, the state’s total has risen to 2,162. The number of people discharged, meanwhile, stands at 82 on Wednesday, increasing the total to 1,210.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Chennai now stands at 767 and the total number of active cases in the state is 922.
According to the bulletin put out by the State Health Department, 7,886 persons were tested on Wednesday. Three of the reported cases are children aged 2, 6 and 8. Apart from Chennai, four cases have been reported in Chengalpattu, three in Kancheepuram, one in Thiruvallur and two in Villupuram districts.
(Source: The News Minute)
4. Koyambedu Flowers Shops Shut Till 3 May
Flower shops operating out of the koyambedu wholesale market complex (KWMC) will continue to be remain closed till 3 May as the traders have refused to move to the mofussil bus terminus at madhavaram temporarily.
The Chennai metropolitan development authority (CMDA) has banned retail trade at KWMC to facilitate social distancing and made arrangements at madhavaram to shift retail traders.
S Mookaiah, president of the Chennai Koyembedu Flower Traders Association, said that a decision in this regard was taken during a meeting among flower sellers on Wednesday.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. ‘RK Nagar’ Review: Yet Another Clueless Film on Sexual Violence
The sequence introducing the heroine of RK Nagar ends with the camera focused on her backside, with a double entendre thrown in for good measure. However, the plot of RK Nagar is clearly inspired by the Pollachi sexual assault case that has made its way into several Tamil films which are just as blatant about objectifying women. It’s a contradiction that our directors seem incapable of grasping even if it’s leaping out of the screen in waves of nausea-inducing neon.
Released directly on Netflix after a long delay, RK Nagar, directed by Saravana Rajan, begins on a chilling note with a group of schoolboys filming a teacher secretly to take revenge. However, the screenplay abruptly shifts to the goon wars between Mannu (Inigo Prabhakaran) and Lottai (Sampath Raj), with an elaborate voice-over introducing the characters and their conflicts.
(Source: The News Minute)
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