As Bengaluru gets ready for a week long complete lockdown, the government order issued on Monday stated that  hotels and restaurants shall be permitted to operate kitchens for take away/home delivery only for the coming week.

“Hotels, restaurants, and hospitality services prohibited, except those meant for housing health/ police/ Government officials/ healthcare workers/stranded persons including tourists and for quarantine facilities,” the government order issued for the lockdown said.

It added, “However, hotels and restaurants shall be permitted to operate kitchens for takeaway/home delivery of food items only.”

As announced on Saturday by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, a complete lockdown will be in effect in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22.   

No bars will be allowed to open and will remain closed as they did since mid-March when the first phase of lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the infection.

The order mentioned  “All cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes, stadia, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars and auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places” under the section prohibited throughout the Bengaluru area.”

However, it is not clear if retail shops selling liquor will be allowed to operate in this lockdown period.

It may be recalled that statewide including in Bengaluru city, retail stores had reopened only on May 4 after more than a month of being shut. A senior official in the Excise Department said that there can be further clarity on this only on Tuesday morning.

The government order mentioned that “Consumption of liquor, paafl, gutka, tobacco etc, in public places is prohibited” as part of the national directives for COVID-19 management.

The same guidelines said all persons in charge of workplaces should ensure adequate distance between workers, adequate gaps between shifts, staggering the lunch breaks of staff for industries and offices that are in the exempted category.