According to a report by a news agency, statistics released by the Chennai police show that the crime graph in the city has dropped drastically in the March 25 - April 15 period in comparison to the February 25 - March 15 period. The former period has reportedly seen 5 murders, 1 robbery, 4 burglaries, 12 house break-in, and 49 thefts, while 9 murders, 1 robbery, 16 burglaries, 29 house break-in and 263 thefts happened in the latter period. Similarly, in cases related to traffic, the March 25 - April 15 period saw accidents that caused the deaths of 13 people, severe injuries of 17 people, and minor injuries of 56 people. However, 54 people died, 93 people were severely injured, and 297 people suffered minor injuries from February 25 - March 15. Based on analysis of the data, police officials concluded that the number of murders had reduced by 44%, burglaries by 75%, thefts by 81% and house break-ins by 59% in comparison to the February 25 and March 15 period. Simultaneously, the number of accident-related deaths came down by 75%, the severe injury cases by 82% and minor injury cases by 81% in comparison to the pre-lockdown period. "The drastic drop in the number of cases of crime and in the number of accidents is due to hardcore criminals and habitual offenders staying home and the number of vehicles on the roads being almost absent," the police officer reportedly said.

In an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19 across the country, PM Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown that came into effect on March 25 at 12.00 am and was initially enforced for 21 days. The lockdown was further extended on April 14 by two weeks until May 3.