A wine shop to buy liquor during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, May 4, 2020. (File photo by=REUTERS/Adnan Abidi) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] Ten men died in a southern Indian state on Friday (Jul 31) after consuming alcohol-derived sanitiser, as local liquor shops were closed due to a coronavirus-related lockdown, police said. The deaths in the town of Kurichedu, in Andhra Pradesh, came as India reported another record surge in daily COVID-19 cases, taking the total to 1.64 million.
"Some people who are heavily addicted to alcohol had consumed hand sanitisers for the high," Siddharth Kaushal, the top police official in the district where Kurichedu is located, told Reuters. "Alcohol is not available because of the lockdown, but hand sanitizer are easily available." He said some other people who had also consumed sanitizer had been discharged from the hospital.
Some of the dead had other health conditions, he added. The federal government has allowed the reopening of most economic activities to try to stave off financial disaster. The ministry also said it aimed to raise the country's capacity to 1 million coronavirus tests per day in the medium term, from a record 600,000 on Friday. The federal government this week announced the reopening of yoga institutes and gymnasiums, and removed restrictions on the movement of people and goods.