<span style="color: #222222;">In Tamil Nadu, 74 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 yesterday, taking the total to 485 cases. Two others died of the infection yesterday. To contain the spread of the disease, the state government has tightened the norms for shopping to reduce public movement outside homes. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Shops selling most of the essential commodities have been asked to wind up by 1 pm every day. Meanwhile, the state chief minister Edppadi Palaniswamy has asked the public not to attribute any religious colour to the spread of the novel coronavirus.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR correspondent reports that as the spread is more among the single group of people who returned from the Delhi conference, the state government has asked the National Institute of Epidemiology, a research institution under the Indian Council of Medical Research in Chennai, to conduct a study on the factors responsible for it. Meanwhile, the Customs officials in Chennai Airport, seaport and foreign post offices in the city are working round the clock to facilitate the import of crucial medical equipment and medicines without any delay.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Ventilators, defibrillators, medical gloves, masks and digital forehead thermometers are being given urgent clearance. Shipments containing critical components for the assembly of medical equipment are also being cleared on priority, to keep the hospitals well equipped in their fight against the onslaught of the virus. </span>