Liquor outlets remain shut in Kerala on Day-1 of Lockdown-3

Team Udayavani, May 5, 2020, 7:57 AM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: Liquor outlets, beauty parlours, spas, barber shops remained shut in Kerala while fancy stores, bakeries and other stores opened on Monday as the state government eased the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

In the busy market places like Broadway in Kochi and Chala market in the state capital, police instructed the shopkeepers to down shutters as the shops were located close to each other making it difficult to maintain social distancing.

Though public transport remained off the roads even in green and orange zone areas, where no cases were reported for last 21 days,two-wheelers and four wheelers were seen aplenty.

While liquorshops were not restricted by the Centre in the Green Zones and Orange Zones its latest guidelines, the state government decided it was prudent to keep them shut, in a setback to the tipplers in the state, which boasts of highest per capita consumption of liquor in the country.

For the second consecutive day, no new COVID-19 cases were reported in Kerala while the number of cases under treatment came down to 34 after 61 people were discharged, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday.

He said so far 499 people have been infected with the coronavirus, which has claimed three lives, including that of a four-month baby girl from Malappuram.

At least 21,724 are under observation, including 372 in various hospitals, he told reporters here after the daily evaluation meet on COVID-19.

Over 33,000 odd samples have been tested,and 32,315 are negative.

On deaths of Keralites in various countries, Vijayan expressed condolences and said it was painful to know about the fatalities.

“More than 80 Keralites have lost their lives due to the disease in various countries while reports from other states also show that Malayalees have been badly affected due to the virus,” Vijayan said.

He also said at least 1,70,917 Keralites, stranded in other states have registered via NORKA (Non-resident Keralites Affairs) portal for returning home.

“Till now, 56,737 Keralites have registered from Karnataka and 56, 603 have registered from Tamil Nadu. As many as 23,004 have registered from Maharashtra to return to the state.

At least 28,000 have applied for pass and 5,470 passes have been distributed till 4 pm. By Monday noon, 515 people have come to the state through various checkposts,” Vijayan said.

He also added that 13,818 migrant workers have gone to their respective states in the last two days through the special non-stop trains arranged for them from Kerala.

On Monday, a train has left for Jharkhand carrying guest workers from Kerala even as two others planned were cancelled due to lack of permission from some states, a senior official from Railway said.

As part of easing lockdown restriction as per the guidelines issued by the centre, the state government has allowed those in Orange and Green zones to make inter-district travel after obtaining necessary passes from their respective jurisdictional police stations.

When asked whether the state has any plans to bear the ticket charges, he said “no the state government was not planning for anything like that. The guest workers have booked the ticket by themselves for their travel. We thought the centre would bear the expense but that’s not happening,” Vijayan added.

Among those declared cured on Monday, the maximum of 19 were from Kannur followed by 12 from Kottayam and 11 from Idukki.