Tamil Nadu government on Monday issued an order extending the timings of the state-run TASMAC liquor shops by two additional hours till 7PM in the evening. TASMAC outlets across the state were reopened for the second time last week on Saturday with timings that were in effect from 10AM and 5PM; exempting those within the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) police limits, Tiruvallur district, shopping malls and containment zones.

A new token system was introduced by the Tamil Nadu government that was to be implemented at all TASMAC outlets across the state for sales with only 500 tokens to be issued per day. Furthermore, since the reopening of the liquor shops over the past two days, emphasis on social distancing norms have been at place with tipplers being told to wear masks while coming for their purchases.

TASMAC outlets across the state were reopened for the second time on May 16 after May 7 when they subsequently ordered to be shut down by the Madras High Court the next day on May 8 since visuals and pictures of people violating social distancing norms came to light sparking concerns of the COVID-19 virus outbreak getting heightened. The state-run liquor shops had remained closed for nearly 43 days after the nation went into lockdown mode on March 25 and the extra hours added to the timings after the second reopening is said to be the first of the many lockdown relaxations across the state.