Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said shopping malls, restaurants, wayside eateries, tea stalls, and hotels could admit customers from June 9 if they institutionalised the mandatory pandemic control measures prescribed by the Central and State governments.
The government has limited seating at restaurants to 50% of the total capacity. The managements should clean, sanitise, disinfect, and ventilate their establishments before opening up for business.
They should check the body temperature of customers before allowing them inside.
Preferably, the management should switch off air-conditioning and make provision for the free circulation of air. Seating should be spaced at 1.8 m apart.
Employees have to wear masks and gloves, provide hand sanitisers to the public, and disinfect the premises regularly.
Mr. Vijayan said traders should transact business in digital form. Customers should prefer electronic cash transfer over the use of currency notes to reduce the risk of transmission. Tea stalls and fruit juice vendors should sterilise glasses in hot water.
The Chief Minister warned that the opening of businesses and the influx of non-resident Keralites from within the country and outside had perilously increased the risk of the virus spreading.
Hence, the public should not lull themselves into a false sense of security by thinking the scourge had retreated never to return and normalcy restored.
Aged and children
Mr. Vijayan said persons above the age of 65, children below the age of 10, pregnant women and ill persons were barred from restaurants and malls and public places until further notice.
He urged restaurants to promote home delivery and takeaways and limit on-premise dining. The management should register the name, address, and mobile number of diners.
Hotels should insist that lodgers also provide their travel information at the reception. Room service should place food outside the room. Hotels and restaurants should not use cloth napkins. They must use disposable paper napkins instead.
Almost the same set of rules applied to malls and food courts.
Curbs at malls
Moreover, mall managements should not allow the air-conditioned atmospheric temperature inside malls to dip below 24-degree centigrade. Visitors and staff should mandatorily wear masks. They should avoid touching the commonly used surfaces, such as handrails and bannisters.
There should be no crowding on escalators. Cinema theatres, play areas, gaming centres, gymnasiums, stadiums, public parks, beaches, weekend tourist destinations, and swimming pools would continue to remain shuttered until further notice.
The government indicated that it might make the wearing of masks legally enforceable. Spitting in public could also invite fines in the future.
