Following all precautionary measures for safe home delivery of

After a food delivery man got infected by novel coronavirus in Delhi recently, leading restaurants that are open only for home delivery and online food aggregators of Kolkata said they have become extra cautious in following all precautionary measures during the lockdown.

The restaurants said they are not taking orders from sensitive zones (hotspots) identified by the state government, keeping a tab on body temperature of employees, handing over food to delivery men maintaining social distancing, and sanitizing their kitchens regularly.

Online food aggregators such as Zomato and Swiggy claimed they are delivering food only from those eateries that maintain government prescribed safety measures.

According to an estimate, less than 10 per cent of the 50,000 odd restaurants of West Bengal opted for online food delivery since the state government shut them down on March 21 to check the spread of coronavirus.

Shiladitya Choudhury, the owner of Awadhi cuisine restaurant, 'Oudh 1590', said the eatery has stopped taking orders from sensitive zones (hotspots) identified by the state government.

Choudhury said, "We have always maintained a two- layered packaging system so that the food container doesn't come in contact with the delivery executives.

"And in the present situation we have taken additional precautions like monitoring body temperature of kitchen and delivery staff, sanitising delivery executives, and marking spots where they would wait," he said.

Asked if the incident in New Delhi has left any adverse effect on orders in the past few days, Choudhury said, "Not really. We are getting 15-20 per cent more orders than usual."
A spokesman of Bengali cuisine restaurant 'Koshe Kasha' said its staff and delivery boys are wearing masks, washing hands frequently and keeping distance with customers delivering parcel at their doorstep,
"Despite a sharp dip in revenues, we are trying to protect jobs of around 160 employees," the spokesman said,
He said while his restaurant has not received any feedback from customers being apprehensive about virus contamination from delivery boys in the wake of the Delhi incident, "but aggregators say orders have dipped after the news spread."
Piyali Mukherjee, one of the owners of fine dining theme restaurant 'Hanglaatherium' said, "All online delivery executives are handed over the carry bag (containing food container) only if they are wearing mask and gloves."