thiruvananthapuram the state government has decided to defer reopening of bar hotels for regular functioning indefinitely until the surge in the covid19 cases comes downthe decision was taken in the highlevel meeting chaired by chief minister pinarayi vijayan on thursday it is reliably learnt that the government has decided not to permit the reopening of the bar hotels in the wake of objections raised by the health department as covid19 situation in the state continues to be gravelast month the excise department had suggested that the government could consider reopening the bar hotels across the state in the wake of unlocking most of the sectors and many other states reopening the bars excise commissioner s aananthakrishnan had given a report to the government saying that the government can consider the proposal to reopen the bar hotels by adhering to all the covid19 protocolsthis included reducing the seating capacity for increasing the distance between individuals wearing masks frequent sanitization of the bars and the premises etc the proposal from the excise department was forwarded in the wake of several states reopening the bar hotels for customershowever while the proposal was under the active consideration of the government the covid19 cases across the state had steeply increased especially after the festival days the government had then decided to temporarily put the proposal on holdthere are 600plus bar hotels and 359 beer and wine parlours in the state