Liquor shops reopened across the nation on May 4 in non-containment zones after 40 days with large number of people queuing up, giving social distancing norms a toss at many places. Long queues were witnessed at several places like Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Jaipur. In Delhi, many liquor shops had to be shut as huge crowds gathered outside the outlets, flouting social distancing norms. At some places, police had to resort to mild lathicharge to control the crowd. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal imposed a 70% ‘special corona fee’ on sale of liquor in the national capital starting May 5. He also said that relaxation on restrictions will be revered in areas where people are found violating safety guidelines. Visuals from the capital city of Maharashtra, Mumbai showed thirsty people standing in long queues since morning waiting for the shops to open. Similar scenes were witnessed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh. The nationwide lockdown is currently in its third phase. The lockdown which was supposed to end on May 4 has been extended till May 17. The number of coronavirus cases in the country has reached 46433 with1568 deaths.
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