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Telangana Allows Bars To Remain Open Till 1 am On New Year’s Eve

Mumbai: Telangana government on Tuesday issued an order allowing bars to remain open and serve liquor to customers till 1 am on New Year’s Eve amid the Omicron scare.

In a memorandum signed by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, the Revenue Department said that “after careful consideration of the matter,” the Director, Prohibition and Excise, Hyderabad “to allow license holders of 2B (Bar), C1 Permission is being given to (in-house), EP1 (event permit) and TD1 (in-house) licensees of the Tourism Development Corporation to serve alcohol up to 1 pm on the midnight of December 31, 2021, and January 1, 2022. ”

The memorandum further states that A4 licenses (retail shops) can remain open till midnight of December 31, subject to adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocols.

The move came as a surprise as it came just days after the Telangana High Court directed the state government to ban public gatherings in view of the festive season.

Hearing a batch of PILs related to COVID-19, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N Tukaramji asked the Telangana government to ban public gatherings during Christmas, New Year and Sankranti celebrations. said. The central government has also advised states to consider imposing local restrictions. States have been advised to impose night curfew and ensure strict regulation of large gatherings.

Twelve cases of the Omicron variant were reported in Telangana on Monday, December 27, taking the total number of cases of the new coronavirus variant in the state to 55, the health department said. The bulletin said that out of the 12 cases, 10 were travellers who had arrived at Hyderabad International Airport from countries other than those declared “at-risk” by the central government, while two were in contact with patients who had previously had tested positive for the variant.

According to the bulletin, 10 among the 55 have recovered from the infection. It said 19 samples are awaited with regard to their Omicron status.

Meanwhile, Telangana on Monday reported 182 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 6.80 lakh, while the death toll rose to 4,023 with one more fatality. The number of active cases in the state was 3,417, the bulletin said.

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