Kolkata, Apr 21 () After a food delivery man gotinfected by novel coronavirus in Delhi recently, leadingrestaurants that are open only for home delivery and onlinefood aggregators of Kolkata said they have become extracautious in following all precautionary measures during thelockdown.
The restaurants said they are not taking orders fromsensitive zones (hotspots) identified by the state government,keeping a tab on body temperature of employees, handing overfood to delivery men maintaining social distancing, andsanitizing their kitchens regularly.
Online food aggregators such as Zomato and Swiggyclaimed they are delivering food only from those eateries thatmaintain government prescribed safety measures.
According to an estimate, less than 10 per cent of the50,000 odd restaurants of West Bengal opted for online fooddelivery since the state government shut them down on March 21to check the spread of coronavirus.
Shiladitya Choudhury, the owner of Awadhi cuisinerestaurant, 'Oudh 1590', said the eatery has stopped takingorders from sensitive zones (hotspots) identified by the stategovernment.
Choudhury said, "We have always maintained a two-layered packaging system so that the food container doesn'tcome in contact with the delivery executives.
"And in the present situation we have taken additionalprecautions like monitoring body temperature of kitchen anddelivery staff, sanitising delivery executives, and markingspots where they would wait," he said.
Asked if the incident in New Delhi has left anyadverse effect on orders in the past few days, Choudhury said,"Not really. We are getting 15-20 per cent more orders thanusual."
A delivery person of a pizza chain in Delhi had testedpositive for coronavirus a few days back, following which 72families were told to observe self-quarantine. A mobile foodaggregator claimed the contamination was caused at the pizzaoutlet.
A spokesman of Bengali cuisine restaurant 'KosheKasha' said its staff and delivery boys are wearing masks,washing hands frequently and keeping distance with customersdelivering parcel at their doorstep,
"Despite a sharp dip in revenues, we are trying toprotect jobs of around 160 employees," the spokesman said,
Ishtiaque Ahmad of the Shiraz Golden Restaurant, said,"Our chefs are using sanitiser before preparing a dish andpacking it for delivery.
"While all the kitchen staff are wearing gloves, masksand caps to maintain hygiene, we have started thermalscreening of all the delivery staff before handing over thefood and maintaining the norms of social distancing strictly,"said Ahmad, a partner of the Mughal cuisine restaurant.
He said while his restaurant has not received anyfeedback from customers being apprehensive about viruscontamination from delivery boys in the wake of the Delhiincident, "but aggregators say orders have dipped after thenews spread."
Piyali Mukherjee, one of the owners of fine diningtheme restaurant 'Hanglaatherium' said, "All online deliveryexecutives are handed over the carry bag (containing foodcontainer) only if they are wearing mask and gloves."
"Food is packed in containers and then wrapped withcling film to avoid any spillage as well as contamination. Itis then put in the carry bag and handed over to the deliveryperson of aggregators," she said.
Sources in online food aggregator Zomato said they areonly delivering food from restaurants which maintain the WHOsafety standard in letter and spirit.
"We strictly follow all listed hygiene standards likechecking body temperature and frequent hand wash by riders,"sources said.
Swiggy sources also said they are adhering to allsafety norms and even offering a badge to a restaurant whichfollows the listed standard norms which included use of maskand checking of body temperature of employees and sanitizationof furniture. SUS BSMNN NN