Tamil Nadu on Monday cleared the decks for salons to reopen in the state from today but only in the rural areas amid Lockdown4. However, the salons will have to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines, barbers will have to wear masks and maintain hygiene at all times, the chief minister said in a statement.
"After sympathetically considering demands from barbers, I've given orders for reopening salons from 19 May in areas other than Greater Chennai Police limits, other Corporations, Municipalities and Town Panchayats," Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said in a statement.
Guidelines have also been issued to ensure social distancing and hygiene are maintained in the salons. Barbers must wear masks and hand gloves. There has to be strict adherence to social distancing. Salon owners must ensure frequent hand washes and a 5-time disinfection.
While some are willing to travel the extra distance for a hair cut, others seemed to find the guidelines difficult to impose. Chitra Ragulan, a resident of Chennai, asked, "How can a barber maintain social distancing? By using garden shears?"
However, women will have to wait as the chief minister's statement did not say anything about beauty parlours.
In Chennai, a young woman, who did not want to be named, said, "All salons in rural Tamil Nadu should be turned into unisex establishments to accommodate women who are waiting a long time to use the services".
The announcement hasn't brought much cheer to the saloon chains in the state as well whose owners have paid large sums of money towards salaries of their employees over the last two months.
The nationwide coronavirus lockdown has been extended a third time till May 31. PM Modi had announced the lockdown in March to curb the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
Tamil Nadu has reported over 11,200 coronavirus cases so far with at least 78 deaths as the country crossed the 1 lakh-mark on Monday.
