TN health secretary to discuss revenue department's go permitting 100% occupancy in theatres

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishnan said he would consult the Revenue Department a day after the government issued a notice allowing 100% occupancy in theatres which created a stir in the State which has been witnessing a gradual decline in cases.

"I saw the government order issued by the revenue department and we will take up the matter with them. We will look at the GoI guidelines, SOPs and challenges and take it to their notice," the Radhakrishnan said.

The revenue department had increased the seating capacity in theatres and multiplexes from 50% to 100% following the requests of factor Vijay and several theatre owner associations. Vijay who commands a vast fan base and has a Pongal release was among those who made a representation to the government.


The government's decision comes at a time when three more were found positive for the UK variant of Covid19 on Monday in addition to the one person who had already tested positive. The government said genome sequencing results of 32 individuals were awaited from NIV Pune.

This was done after 85 employees at ITC Grand Chola hotel in Chennai tested positive for Covid-19.

On Tuesday, the State reported 820 new Covid-19 cases, of which Chennai accounted for 235. A total of 11 people succumbed to the infection taking the death toll in the State to 12,177. Further, 971 patients were discharged on Tuesday taking the total discharges to 802,385. So far, Tamil Nadu has reported 822,370 cases. As many as 59,980 persons were tested for the infection on Tuesday.