COVID-19 India Update: Liquor shops open amidst easing of Lockdown 3.0; People queue up in huge numbers; Social Distancing goes for a toss.

With the start of Lockdown 3.0, non-essential shops including Liquor Shops opened, and people came out in large numbers to buy liquor. Lockdown 3.0 came in effect from Monday with some relaxations. All non-essential stores can be opened but will have to maintain social distancing norms and close as per the directed time. Since weeks the Mango man has been asking for the opening of one particular product to be included in the list of essential goods that was Liquor.

On Monday, Liquor shops opened after their closure on 20th March; tipplers enthusiastically came out in huge numbers forming bee-lines near the shops and thereby tossing the social distancing norms. In Delhi, Police had to resort to lathi-charge at some places to curb tipplers' enthusiasm and control them. 

After the Home Ministry with some restrictions allowed operations of private vehicles in all the zones, traffic on roads seemingly increased as compared to the eerie-ghost town like roads during the stricter version of lockdown. In Red Zones, two passengers plus driver are allowed to travel in cars while two-wheelers cannot have a pillion rider. 

In Delhi, around 150 liquor stores opened on Monday; many had to shut hours after the opening because the social distancing norms got violated. A senior government official quoted saying, “There have been problems in a few areas where hundreds gathered outside the shops. The MHA order states clearly that social distancing norms have to be maintained and in places, this was not done, we have asked shops owners to make arrangements before opening up again.” At an outlet in Kashmere Gate, East Delhi, police resorted to mild lathi-charge as people formed bee-lines at the liquor shops and violated the social distancing rules. 

In Chhatisgarh, The State Excise department is planning to start home delivery of Liquor so as so to discourage large crowds. Following the Ministry of Home Affairs' revised guidelines, salons opened in Vijayawada. In Chennai, mobile, stationery and electronic shops re-opened. Many people were disappointed in Pune as they queued outside liquor shops from 8:30 AM only to be informed that liquor shops will remain closed as the District Collector has provided no written directive.

COVID-19 deaths in India rose to 1373 taking the total tally of cases to 42533.