Covid: Liquor shops in Andhra Pradesh to remain open till 10 pm

The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday (January 17) extended the business hours of liquor retail shops by one hour till 10 pm. 

Special chief secretary to Government Revenue (Excise) department Rajat Bhargava said that after careful examination of the matter, the government gave permission to keep the retail outlets open till 10 pm keeping in view the Covid-19 guidelines and in order to complete the accounting procedures. 

As per the state government's data, 4,108 new cases and 696 recoveries were reported in Andhra Pradesh on Monday. With these new cases, the active cases stand at 30,182 in the state.

Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of health and family welfare on Tuesday confirmed that India reported 2,38,018 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. With this, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,76,18,271, which includes 8,891 cases of the Omicron variant.

The active cases have increased to 17,36,628, the highest in 230 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,86,761 with 310 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

There has been an 8.31 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Monday, the ministry said.

(With agency inputs)