For city residents, it was a stay-at-home Sunday

With public transport offthe roads, traffic was down to a bare minimum; in the evening, many came out to applaud health workers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a ‘Janata Curfew’ on Sunday to encourage social distancing among the public, to contain the spread of COVID-19, received an overwhelming response in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu, with the entire State observing a near-complete shutdown.

With the State government fully backing the initiative by suspending public transport and later extending the curfew till 5 a.m. on Monday, all roads and public places wore a deserted look. Heeding the government’s call, the public largely remained indoors. A negligible number of vehicles were seen plying major roads and highways.