As the festive season has been fast-approaching in Tamil Nadu, the state government has, on Wednesday, announced fresh relaxations, amid the lockdown, in which it has permitted the commercial establishments to operate till 10 pm from Thursday across the state apart from the COVID-19 containment zones. 
 
According to the government's press release, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced the relaxation for the establishments and said that the decision was taken with the view of the upcoming festive season including the Pooja and Diwali holidays, the need to fix and revive the economy, and to have a gradual exit from the lockdown and restrictions. 

As per the press release, the relaxation will be applicable to commercial and business establishments including restaurants, provision and vegetable shops, and tea shops and these establishments can function till 10 pm from Thursday, while it was till 9 pm before the relaxation. The state government has mandated these establishments to adhere to the standard operating procedures issued by the government. 

However, the government had clarified that the establishments inside the COVID-19 containment zones across the state would remain closed and won't fall under the category of enjoying fresh relaxation. Through the press release, the Chief Minister further pressed his appeal to the people to stick to the guidelines and protocols and not to gather in large numbers before the shops to make purchases for the festivals. 

It's typical that the Pooja and Diwali festivals would attract large crowds of people towards the commercial establishments and entertainment arenas and during last year's celebrations, we don't have any introduction of the novel coronavirus, and in the span of one year, COVID-19 had bought the world under its control and the pandemic had pushed us to get settled for the new normal of wearing masks and observe social distancing. 

As Tamil Nadu has been reporting a decline in fresh cases for the past few days, state health secretary Radhakrishnan, while speaking to a news agency, said that the festive season would pose a huge challenge to the state government in monitoring the movements of people and tracing the contacts. As the state has been poured with major relaxations from the lockdown, the government has been preparing to ensure to prevent the rapid spread of the pandemic during the festive season. 

The Chief Minister had instructed to observe a six-feet social distancing at the public places along with wearing masks. Tamil Nadu has reported 6,94,030 positive cases of COVID-19 so far as of Tuesday of which 36,734 are active, 6,46,555 have been discharged, and 10,741 had succumbed to the viral infection.