CHENNAI: A total of 50 people, mostly vendors, have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Koyambedu wholesale market after it was reopened two weeks ago.
Chennai corporation officials said of the 3500 samples tested in the market so far, only 50 have turned positive. “Every day we test close to 200 samples and all the goods vehicles coming into the market are sprayed with chloride solution,” the official said.
The official added that four teams have been deployed in the market to screen vendors. “Every single person entering and exiting the market is screened by thermal guns. We also do surveillance testing,” the official added.
Officials said that testing happens in the market round the clock. “Some goods vehicles come only in the night and if the visitors are running temperature, we test them late in the night too,” the official said.
The vendors are tested between 10 pm and 2 am, as well as at 5 am. This is apart from the tests done later in the morning.
Operations resumed partially two weeks ago, with nearly 200 shops in the wholesale market being reopened. The market is currently out of bounds for the public and only open for wholesale vendors.
In early May, the Koyambedu market was shut down completely after it turned into a cluster with a high number of daily COVID-19 cases. Subsequently, a temporary market was set up in Thirumazhisai, 50 kilometres away from the city.
However, vendors faced a hard time there as they did not have storage facilities resulting in a lot of products being wasted at the end of the day. Apart from this, since the area was low-lying, even light rains resulted in heavy water stagnation.
The scenario was no different in the market set up at Madhavaram.
Meanwhile, the Koyambedu market is expected to fully open in a week's time. Vendors have placed demands that it would benefit their livelihood if the fruit, flower and retail markets are opened too.