With a low percent of fully-vaccinated people in the district, the Madurai district administration has imposed restrictions on unvaccinated people venturing in public spaces on Friday, December 3. Madurai Collector S Aneesh imposed this restriction following the inspection conducted by Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Thursday.

In a meeting with officials, the Madurai Collector said that those who are unvaccinated will not be allowed to venture into public spaces such as ration shops, business enterprises, supermarkets, movie theatres, malls, textile shops, banks, weddings halls among others.

According to reports, in Madurai district, only 71 percent of the public have received their first COVID-19 shot while only a meagre 32 percent of the public is fully vaccinated. Owing to this, Health Minister Ma Subramanian, who inspected various areas in Madurai on Thursday, observed that the district has a poor vaccination record.

The minister said that Madurai district has a low vaccination record. “Public should come forward and get vaccinated,” urged the minister.

Following this on Friday, Collector Aneesh imposed a ban for unvaccinated people in 18 places of the district.

The collector further added that if a person has got the first shot and is in the recommended waiting period for the second dose, they are allowed to venture in public places. However, those who have exceeded the interval and not yet fully jabbed will be barred in public spaces till they get fully vaccinated.

Though awareness programs are in full swing in the district on vaccination, several officials and stakeholders claim that interest from the public to get vaccinated is still low. It is important to note that Madurai district was one among the districts to get severely affected by the second wave of COVID-19 this year.

According to the district-wise daily COVID-19 bulletin, Tamil Nadu on Friday recorded 711 new cases and reported nine new deaths in the state. Madurai recorded only eight cases on Friday. Chennai and Coimbatore recorded 128 and 127 COVID-19 cases, respectively.