The Covid lockdown has been extended in Tamil Nadu for another week amid growing concerns over the Delta Plus variant. However, the state has been divided into three tiers based on daily numbers of Covid cases to ease the curbs.

UNION MINISTRY WARNS OF DELTA PLUS VARIANT
This comes after the Union Health Ministry sent a letter to the State Chief Secretary mentioning that Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) has detected Delta Plus variant, a variant of concern, in Madurai, Kancheepuram, and Chennai.

The ministry requested the state to take immediate containment measures in the above-mentioned districts and to send adequate samples of positive persons to establish epidemiological correlations.

STATE EASES CURBS
Chennai, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram, and Thiruvallur fall under Tier 1 districts and have been provided with maximum relaxations allowing malls, gyms, and places of worship, textiles, and jewellery shops to open from Monday.

Tier 2 consists of 23 districts where relaxations are limited but textiles and jewellery stores are allowed to open from 9 am to 7 pm.  Tier 3 consists of 11 districts where there is a strict lockdown as the daily number of positive cases have not yet plateaued.

Story Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/tamil-nadu-lockdown-eases-curbs-delta-plus-variant-1820122-2021-06-28