With no alcohol, ten men from the state of Andhra Pradesh had gone for an alternative for the booze that eventually killed all of them in what has become as a shocking development amid fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. 

According to the reports, these ten men of Kurichedu, Andhra Pradesh had died on Friday after they reportedly consumed alcohol-derived sanitizer as all the liquor shops have been closed in the wake of the lockdown and restrictions that have been imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Speaking to Reuters, the top police official said some people who are addicted to alcohol were consuming hand sanitizers for the high and these men have gone for sanitizer as it can be easily bought as the alcohol is not available. 

He further stated that some of the people who had consumed sanitizer were discharged from the hospital earlier while some had died and some of the deceased had other health conditions. The reports say that the death of ten men had come at a high time when the Center has issued some of the relaxations to the lockdown for August. 

The announced guidelines have been aimed to have a gradual exit from the lockdown and to restore the normalcy amid peaking COVID-19 cases. However, many states have tightened the restrictions in the containment zones and where the cases are soaring.

Andhra Pradesh is also one such state and the Kurichedu area, where the incident occurred, has been under strict lockdown and restrictions. According to the Union Health Ministry, India has reported 16,38,871 positive cases so far as of Friday morning of which 10,57,805 have been discharged and 35,747 had succumbed to the virus. 

In the last 24 hours till Friday morning 8 am, India has reported 55,079 fresh cases, 37,223 fresh discharges, and 779 deaths. Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing the sharpest spikes of cases and two days back, it has reported 10,000 new cases in a single day.  As part of the newer relaxations, the Central government has consented the resumption of gyms and yoga institutes across the country apart from the containment zones from August 5 and it also has removed the travel restrictions on the movement of people and goods.