Chennai lockdown news: Of 34 scheduled to depart, 15 flights cancelled

Amid prevalent chaos and uncertainty over access to the essential services and commodities during the lockdown, we bring you the latest updates from Chennai.
*Update at 11.15pm: Passengers from different parts of the country arrived at the Chennai International Airport on Monday in wake of the coronavirus lockdown. One of the passengers, who were in Delhi to pursue an internship but remained stranded in the national capital due to the nationwide lockdown halting all travel said that he was in the national capital to pursue an internship, said that he did not know how he managed in the national capital for two months.
*Update at 10.15pm: Seven more people succumbed to the coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, which witnessed its highest single day spike of 805 cases, taking the infection count in the state to 17,082, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said.With the new fatalities, the death toll in the state has risen to 118 and 84 per cent of them with co-morbidities.
*Update at 8.15pm: Chennai airport will have 20 departures and 21 arrivals on Tuesday. The first departure will be an Air India flight from Chennai to Port Blair at 5.05am and the last departure will be an AirAsia flight to Delhi at 8.55pm. The arrivals will begin at 10.15am with an Air India flight from Port Blair. The day's last arrival will be an AirAsia flight from Delhi at 8.15pm.
*Update at 6.15pm: Tamil Nadu reports 805 Covid-19 cases, including 549 in Chennai and 93 returnees from other states.
*Update at 5.15pm: While a total of 34 flights were originally scheduled to depart from Chennai airport, as many as 15 of them were cancelled, including some of those headed for Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.
*Update at 4.15pm: A Delhi-bound Indigo Airlines with 116 passengers was the first flight to be operated from the airport here on Monday when the country resumed domestic air services after two months of Covid-19 lockdown, officials said. It left for the national capital at 6.40 am while a flight from Delhi operated by the same carrier was the first incoming one, albeit with a far lesser number of passengers, at 27.
*The prevailing economic uncertainty due to the Covid-19 lockdown has resulted in about 75% fall in air conditioner (AC) sales in April and May this year in Trichy, which would otherwise be the busiest time for electronic outlets every year.
*In a major relief for residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands stranded in the city, a passenger ship will be operated to ferry about 600 individuals to Port Blair on May 28. It is the first vessel between Chennai and Port Blair since the lockdown began, leaving around 1,500 residents of the Union territory stuck across the country. Of them, 600 are in different parts of Chennai.
*Indigo Mlr-Chennai cancelled for today
*As shutdown has been relaxed and more workers can be mobilised, Southern Railway has started work to build a pedestrian subway, install escalators and other developmental work at Tiruvallur railway station in Tamil Nadu. The suspension of train traffic has come in handy to carry out the work.
*Update at 11.50am: Airport resumes operations in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore


*Update at 11.12am: Domestic flights resume operations at Chennai airport


*Update at 10.38am: Mosques remain closed in Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram for devotees amid the fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown. People offer EidUlFitr prayers at their residence.

*Update at 9.42am: Walajah Big mosque in the Triplicane area in Chennai closed for devotees on EidUlFitr

*Update at 9.35am: India registers biggest single day spike of 6,977 Covid-19 cases, total tally rises to 1,38,845; death toll climbs to 4,021, reports PTI quoting Union health ministry
*Update at 9.23am: First flight from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, since resumption of domestic flight operations, lands at Chennai airport

*Update at 8.25am: Ramzan special prayers by family members in their house at Kalainagar in Madurai

*The state government may have allowed domestic flight services at the city airport but passengers will struggle to reach the airport on time as autorickshaws, cabs and public transport are not available.
*Update at 7.52am: Passengers at Chennai International Airport observe social distancing

*Domestic passengers who land at Chennai airport should have an e-pass issued by the Tamil Nadu government and will have to undergo 14 days home quarantine.
*As containment efforts intensify across the city, officials say in some parts of the city, residents of slum areas are finding it difficult to adapt to wearing masks all through the day. The residents also have a false sense of complacency that they would either not get infected, or that it would not affect them in a big way, say health offcials. This is because they have witnessed many asymptomatic cases who have recovered and returned home within 8-10 days.
*The temporary fruit market at Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus is getting congested — with traders encroaching open spaces and visitors refusing to follow social distancing — it mirrors Koyambedu. Ironically, the temporary market was set up after the Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex (KWMC) led to a Covid-19 cluster three weeks ago.