Coronavirus pandemic: Social distancing goes for toss as liquor shops open around country

Team Suno Neta Monday 4th of May 2020 11:10 PM

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A policeman seeing using his cane to discipline a man near a Delhi liquor shop.

New Delhi: Thousands of people thronged liquor shops across the country, on Monday, ignoring social distancing norms to prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus, Covid-19. The government allowed standalone liquor shops to open after almost a month and half into the coronavirus lockdown.

Liquor shops across the country, barring some, witnessed chaotic scenes as people broke queues and pushed one another to reach the counters to by alcohol. The police had to resort to mild lathicharge at many places to bring the crowd of buyers under control.

Many cities, including Bangalore, saw long queues, some as long as a kilometre and more. Elated liquor shop owners were also seen showering flowers on customers in some places in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has imposed a coronavirus tax of 70 per cent on liquor prices. This will come into effect from Tuesday. A bottle of liquor which cost ₹500 will now cost ₹850.

In Mumbai, there was complete chaos before liquor shops as confusion prevailed whether they would be allowed to open or not. The order finally came at around 3pm, but by then, most of the shop owners decided to open their shops only on Tuesday.

India Covid-19 cases see sharp rise

India saw the biggest surge in the number of single-day coronavirus cases and deaths from the infection, on Monday. It recorded over 3,900 new cases and 175 new deaths. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country has now over 46,000 and the death toll has crossed 1,500.

The number of coronavirus cases in the world has crossed 3.6 million with the death toll crossing 250,000. The United States has so far registered over 1.2 million cases and the death toll in the country is now approaching 70,000.

Latest global coronavirus stats from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

Latest coronavirus India stats: