As the state of Tamil Nadu is just five days ahead to mark the deadline of the fourth spell of the lockdown to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the state government is preparing to outline the road ahead after May 31st on whether the lockdown must be extended or relaxed amid surging cases.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami will be convening a meet on Tuesday with the expert committee comprises of medical experts during which the committee would be disclosing its recommendations and suggestions to the government to formulate the decision on the lockdown and restrictions. This committee has been advising the government on gripping up the efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic.

According to the reports, the committee would likely suggest the Chief Minister to revoke the statewide lockdown by keeping tight restrictions in some of the areas. The government has been signaling that pulling out the state from the lockdown in one shot won't be possible at this juncture and the relaxations on the fourth spell of the lockdown can be attributed to the state's mission of having gradual exit from the lockdown. 

The expert committee would possibly recommend the government to resume the services of additional sectors with strict adherence to the containment strategies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). While the government activated the fourth phase of the lockdown, it also has been providing the relaxations to bring back the state to normalcy. Since the start of the fourth spell, the government has extended the time of the functioning of essential shops. 

It has increased the manpower in the government offices from 33% to 50% across the state. Last week, the government has permitted to resume auto-rickshaw services and open salon shops and parlors across the state apart from Chennai and other containment zones. The government has allowed the private companies in Chennai to re-open and it also has permitted the intra-district travels along with re-opening the TASMAC liquor shops across the state apart from Chennai.

Containing the cases in Chennai has become a huge challenge for the government as the capital city has accounted for two-thirds of the total affected cases in the state. The restrictions on public transport and movement of people are still in place in Chennai. However, the reports stated that the government might re-commence the operations of salon shops and public transport in Chennai like the rest of the state after May 31st.

By permitting the public transport in the city, the government would likely keep the restrictions alive on malls, recreational clubs, places of public gatherings, worship, educational institutions, and cinema halls as these would remain closed after May 31st. On Sunday, the government has re-opened the industrial estates in Chennai, to revive the economy, with tight restrictions.

The preceding phases of the lockdown hadn't paid off what the state was expected as for every phase, the COVID-19 cases have been going high. The month of May till now has been adding more cases to the state. In April, Chennai had reported 882 cases and in May, the city had reported 10,229 cases till now taking the total tally to 11,131 so far. Despite soaring high cases, the government would pitch for the revival mode than staying under the survival mode.

The state currently has ten districts under the ambit of red zones while the rest are under orange zones. The current extension of the lockdown has been in place since May 17th. The Chief Minister has, on Saturday, asserted that the extension of the lockdown would be decided as per the announcement of the Central government on the nationwide lockdown and as per the suggestions of the expert committee.