Chennai: The Koyambedu vegetable, flowers and fruits wholesale market has emerged the hotspot of Covid-19 and latest figures show 360 persons from across the State have got the infection thanks to city’s trading hub.
According to sources, 63 from Chennai, 129 from Cuddalore, 76 from Villupuram, 42 from Perambalur, seven from Kancheepuram and one each from Thanjavur, Perambalur and Tiruvarur districts have received the infection from Koyambedu market.
Officials fear the number of patients from the Koyambedu cluster, as it is being called now, will witness a sharp increase as thousands of people had visited the market in the past one month to buy vegetables and fruits.
While the Koyambedu Market Management Committee maintains that several measures were followed, including hand wash, social distancing and use of masks, the market has developed into a new cluster. Following this, officials have decided to temporarily close the market.
Many say the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) that manages the market should have moved out the retail market to a different place immediately after the lockdown was enforced on 25 March, which could have averted the cluster.