After reports of crowded grocery stores with very little physical distancing emerged from Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, the district administration decided to keep shops open from 7 am to 12 pm.
For the last three days, stringent lockdown measures were imposed in the district after a 10-month-old boy from Sajipanadu village in Bantwal taluk tested positive for coronavirus on March 27. On the same day, stringent lockdown measures were implemented in the district. Under these measures, milk supply was allowed and pharmacies were kept open. Grocery stores remained closed over the last three days in many parts of the district.
On Tuesday morning, panicked residents lined up to stock up on groceries as early as 7 am. "In our area, there was very little distancing followed. The queue was already long early in the morning even though shops remained open till later in the evening," says Jafar, a resident of Kalladka in the district.
The situation was similar in other parts of the district including Uppinangadi, Vittla and Mangaluru city. Long lines were seen outside popular grocery stores in the city including in Fathima Stores.
In DK, there is a total chaos.
— Sahana A (@SahanaA09) March 31, 2020
Please don't change lockdown rules often!! Follow Bengaluru model. Why is it that only @DCDK9 suffering this? Does it look like some #lockdown for you?!! Why to limit buying hours?!!! people panic and rush!! @DIPR_COVID19 @CMofKarnataka @nistula pic.twitter.com/Vs3RsxzxSI
District Minister In-Charge Kota Shrinivas Poojary announced that shops will remain open from 7 am to 12 pm from Wednesday. "Today we had given permission to open the shops to buy essentials but we found that people failed to maintain distance. Keeping this in mind, the district administration has decided to keep the shops open from 7 am to 12 noon so that people can buy essentials every day," he said.
One more case of coronavirus was reported in Dakshina Kannada on Tuesday taking the total number of cases in the district to 8. So far, 101 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Karnataka