Puducherry Orders Shutdown of All Liquor Shops Amid COVID-19 Surge

Puducherry: The Puducherry government on Monday ordered a shutdown of all categories of liquor shops with immediate effect to midnight of April 30 in view of the coronavirus surge in the union territory.

“All categories of liquor shops to remain closed with immediate effect up to midnight of 30th April,” said the Puducherry government in a statement.

Puducherry had already banned all liquor sale, including arrack, toddy and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in bars and toddy shops from 2 PM onwards from April 26 to April 30.

Hospitals in the Union Territory of Puducherry are fully equipped to treat pandemic stricken patients and the government was bearing the expenditure for their treatment in private hospitals, Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said earlier in the day.

Puducherry added 747 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths in the last 24 hours.