The Tamil Nadu government has come up with a unique way of contact-tracing by making it mandatory to show ‘Aadhaar card’ for getting a haircut amid the pandemic.

According to the government of Tamil Nadu, in order to get a haircut or any other grooming service, visitors need to provide their Aadhaar number.

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This rule has been introduced to keep a check on the visitors as these businesses should keep a record of the customers who are visiting them.

Since Aadhaar has phone number, address and biometrics embedded, it would be easier to trace people if someone is found infected with coronavirus, the government said.

Tamil Nadu, the second severely-hit state by the coronavirus pandemic had reopened the salons and beauty parlours in the state after the centre had eased the lockdown a bit.

However, they remained closed in the state capital Chennai where the cases are high. On Monday, they were allowed to open under the centre’s new ‘Unlock 1’ guidelines that seek to unlock the country in phases.

As reported by NDTV, Relief Commissioner J Radhakrishnan has asked the Greater Chennai Corporation and district collectors to ensure that all grooming businesses follow the order to take the Aadhaar numbers, names and addresses of their customers.

A seven-page standard operating procedure (SOP) was released by the Tamil Nadu government on Monday making it must for these businesses to install hand-washing devices or at least keep hand sanitisers for use by customers and staff.

Blades cannot be reused and paper tissues given to customers should be disposed of safely. Headbands and towels used on one customer should not be reused on another before it is washed, the SOP said.

The state has so far reported a total of 24,586 cases and 197 deaths.