In May, the state government had partially resumed services by opening state-owned beverages outlets and over the counter sale in bars.
Image for representation / Public Domain
The Kerala government has announced reopening of bars and toddy shops that had been shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the state. An order was issued by Chief Secretary Viswas Mehta on Monday. As per the order, bars, clubs, beer and wine parlours, airport lounge bars and toddy shops will be opened, strictly following COVID-19 guidelines. The order has come into force from Monday. Even by October, reports had surfaced that the Excise department was keen on reopening bars, but following a high level meeting, the state had decided not to resume its operations due to the COVID-19 situation. As many as 596 bars and 350 beer and wine parlours in public and private sectors of the state had been shut since March. In May, the state government had partially resumed services by opening state owned beverages outlets (Bevco) alone and had also allowed over-the-counter sale in bars. A mobile application named ‘BevQ’ was specially launched to regulate the rush in Bevco outlets and bars,by maintaining virtual queues. It had made news when over one lakh users downloaded the app within hours of the launch. Incidentally, Kerala is the only south Indian state where bars were not reopened so far. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 status of Kerala does not show relieving figures. As of Monday, 61,604 people are under treatment in the state for COVID-19. On Monday alone, 3,423 people tested positive for the disease. The state has reported 2,817 deaths so far. Kerala and Maharashtra are the states with the highest number of active cases in the country. Kerala’s test positivity rate remains at 9.82%. This means that roughly nine out of 100 people tested will be positive in Kerala. The test positivity rate of the country stands at 2.17% on Monday. It is also to be noted that in the context of the recently held local body elections, the Health Department of the state has given caution, that there is a possibility of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state in two weeks. Also read: Kochi’s New Year celebration ‘Cochin Carnival’ called off due to COVID-19
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