The Tamil Nadu government has made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory in order to buy alcohol from the state-owned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) outlets.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam informed media that the government was enforcing additional precautionary measures due to the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa. “The DPH, as per the rules of the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, had announced that COVID-19 vaccination is mandatory for persons visiting public places. TASMAC outlets are also public places. We will definitely issue an advisory to to all Collectors to ensure stringent monitoring at TASMAC outlets,” Ma Subramanian was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Meanwhile, the health minister informed on Thursday that no case of Omicron has been detected in the state so far. “Swab samples are lifted at the airport and only after the negative test results are obtained, are passengers being let out of the specially-created holding area at the airports,” he said.