Liquor outlets remain shut in Kerala on Day-1 of Lockdown-3

Thiruvananthapuram, May 3 () Liquor outlets, beautyparlours, spas, barber shops remained shut in Kerala whilefancy stores, bakeries and other stores opened on Monday asthe state government eased the coronavirus lockdownrestrictions. In the busy market places like Broadway in Kochi and Chalamarket in the state capital, police instructed the shopkeepersto down shutters as the shops were located close to each othermaking it difficult to maintain social distancing. Though public transport remained off the roads even ingreen and orange zone areas, where no cases were reported forlast 21 days,two-wheelers and four wheelers were seenaplenty. While liquorshops were not restricted by the Centre inthe Green Zones and Orange Zones its latest guidelines, thestate government decided it was prudent to keep them shut, ina setback to the tipplers in the state, which boasts ofhighest per capita consumption of liquor in the country. For the second consecutive day, no new COVID-19 cases werereported in Kerala while the number of cases under treatmentcame down to 34 after 61 people were discharged, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday.

He said so far 499 people have been infected with thecoronavirus, which has claimed three lives, including that ofa four-month baby girl from Malappuram.

At least 21,724 are under observation, including 372 invarious hospitals, he told reporters here after the dailyevaluation meet on COVID-19.

Over 33,000 odd samples have been tested,and 32,315 arenegative.

On deaths of Keralites in various countries, Vijayanexpressed condolences and said it was painful to know aboutthe fatalities.

"More than 80 Keralites have lost their lives due to thedisease in various countries while reports from other statesalso show that Malayalees have been badly affected due to thevirus," Vijayan said.

He also said at least 1,70,917 Keralites, stranded inother states have registered via NORKA (Non-resident KeralitesAffairs) portal for returning home.

"Till now, 56,737 Keralites have registered fromKarnataka and 56, 603 have registered from Tamil Nadu. As manyas 23,004 have registered from Maharashtra to return to thestate. At least 28,000 have applied for pass and 5,470 passeshave been distributed till 4 pm. By Monday noon, 515 peoplehave come to the state through various checkposts," Vijayansaid. He also added that 13,818 migrant workers have gone totheir respective states in the last two days through thespecial non-stop trains arranged for them from Kerala. On Monday, a train has left for Jharkhand carrying guestworkers from Kerala even as two others planned were cancelleddue to lack of permission from some states, a senior officialfrom Railway said.

As part of easing lockdown restriction as per theguidelines issued by the centre, the state government hasallowed those in Orange and Green zones to make inter-districttravel after obtaining necessary passes from their respectivejurisdictional police stations.

When asked whether the state has any plans to bear theticket charges, he said "no the state government was notplanning for anything like that. The guest workers have bookedthe ticket by themselves for their travel. We thought thecentre would bear the expense but that's not happening,"Vijayan added.

Among those declared cured on Monday, the maximum of 19were from Kannur followed by 12 from Kottayam and 11 fromIdukki. RRT UDVS VS