Tamil Nadu, the southern state of India is reeling under the hazard of the Wuhan virus. Amidst the nationwide lockdown enforced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi till May 3rd, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday announced a complete lockdown of four days from 6 am to 9 pm in Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai from April 26 to 29 whereas a lockdown of three days (April 26 -28) has been enforced in Salem and Tirupur, aimed at containing the spread of Wuhan virus.
However, it looks like Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi has pushed the state at the brink of a full-blown Corona explosion as disturbing images and videos have emerged where thousands can be seen flocking to vegetable shops and grocery stores- desperate to hoard vegetables and other food items whilst flouting all the social distancing norms.
https://twitter.com/moulistic/status/1253921064792571904
The intense lockdown which was set to begin from Sunday has been de-railed by the horrendous implementation of the Edappadi government which has ultimately atrophied all the efforts of the last 30 days.
https://twitter.com/ArunSankarASK1/status/1253917645285453824
https://twitter.com/ArunSankarASK1/status/1253926579593338880
Edappadi had ordered essential shops to be open till 3 pm on Saturday and it led to panic amongst the citizens who were virtually given no time to prepare for the upcoming three days lockdown. Consequently, long queues and grotesque violations of all the safety norms have been on display in Tamil Nadu since morning.
https://twitter.com/aicha_010/status/1253958033480151040
The callous CM had announced that only hospitals, essential services like AMMA canteens, ATMs, restaurants with home delivery, and mobile vegetable carts will be only allowed.
24th: Complete lockdown in 4 cities for 3 days. No shop will be opened – TN Govt.
25th:
1.People started panic buying
2. Grocery Shops will be opened till 3 PM: Govt
3. Grocery shop will be opened all the 3 days.Elect a clown, expect a circus. #TNLockdown
— Praveen Kumar Rajendran (@praveenkumar558) April 25, 2020
Twitter users were seen cursing the state government for the bad management and rightly so.
This is because of the bad management from @CMOTamilNadu.
People cannot be blamed.#TNLockdown#lockdown#FailureInChief pic.twitter.com/FXyHVx4kZB— Writer Raji (@WriterRaji) April 25, 2020
Tamil Nadu has so far reported over 1,800 Wuhan virus cases and 22 deaths, out of which 452 cases are from the state capital Chennai. 141 cases are in Coimbatore, 110 in Tirupur, 56 in Madurai 56, and 30 in Salem.
Tamil Nadu is at the high-risk of a potential major outbreak of the virus. 20 to 25 of the Tablighi Jamaat cult members are still missing in the state and it is going to take only one infected patient to start the deadly chain of community-outbreak. The Jamaatis are already responsible for over 84 percent of cases in Tamil Nadu.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), over 4,291 positive cases in the country have been linked to Tablighi Jamaat members in 23 states of the country. Over 40,000 have been quarantined at various facilities across states.
Tamil Nadu CM EPS has acted irresponsibly and he should own up to his mistakes. At a time when each and every decision needs to be micro-managed, Edapadi has committed a monumental blunder by slipping through such a hurried and poorly drafted announcement.
With over two dozen Tablighi’s on the prowl and numerous asymptomatic patients coming out in the open and standing in closing proximities, it would be a miracle if Tamil Nadu goes unscathed from today’s proceedings.