Unable to install packages because /var/lib/dpkg is deleted

[amalagaura]

In the cleanup /var/lib/dpkg is deleted. This means that you cannot do any apt-get commands like update or install. We are unable to install any other dependencies. Is there a reason this is done?

It shows up with this error:

E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

[maxivak]

I have the same problem.

apt-get update

gives error

...
Get:35 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/universe amd64 Packages [6354 B]                                            
Fetched 26.3 MB in 11s (2328 kB/s)                                                                                                   
Reading package lists... Error!
E: flAbsPath on /var/lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (2: No such file or directory)
E: Could not open file  - open (2: No such file or directory)
E: Problem opening 
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.