10 Die Drinking Sanitiser after Indian State Shuts Liquor Shops

At least 10 people died after drinking alcohol-based sanitizer after liquor shops were locked down in a village in Andhra Pradesh, an Indian state. 

The village of Kurichedu has been placed in lockdown after a local spike in cases of coronavirus.

District Police Chief Siddharth Kaushal said the people who died combined the sanitizer with water and soft drinks, BBC said.

They were alcohol-dependent, he added, and had begun drinking the mixture only ten days before they died.

"We are investigating whether the sanitiser had any other toxic content," Mr. Kaushal told reporters.

He added that they had sent samples of the sanitizer away for chemical analysis.

"Some people who are heavily addicted to alcohol had been consuming hand sanitizers for the high," he told Reuters news agency.

"Alcohol is not available because of the lockdown, but hand sanitizers are easily available."

India's federal government has revived much of its companies in order to avert a major economic crisis.

Earlier this week, it was reported that yoga institutes and gyms will be permitted to reopen and that limits on the transport of products and people will be removed.

Nevertheless, many states tend to implement lockdowns in particular locations as virus outbreaks arise.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh, South India, have risen nine-fold in the last month.

Meanwhile, India has recorded more than 55,000 new infections nationally over the past 24 hours. The death toll rose by 779 to more than 35,700 in total.