Chennai’s Koyambedu market shut temporarily after it emerges as a COVID-19 hotspot

The market witnesses at least 15,000 visitors every day from across the state.
Koyambedu market
Koyambedu market
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After the Koyambedu vegetable market emerged as a hotspot for hundreds of COVID-19 cases across Tamil Nadu, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has shut down the market temporarily from Tuesday. The flower and fruit markets were already shifted to the Madhavaram bus stand around a week ago to reduce congestion in the market.

According to reports, the decision to shut down the market came after at least 300 persons who had direct or indirect connection with Koyambedu market tested positive for the novel coronavirus till Monday evening. The CMDA has, instead, made alternate arrangements at Thirumazhisai, around 20 kilometres away from Koyambedu, for wholesale vegetable markets to operate. The new market at Thirumazhisai will start functioning from Thursday, according to the CMDA. A press note from CMDA also requested cooperation of the vegetable traders and the public towards this move, as it is being carried out for the welfare of the people.

Koyambedu has remained a cause of worry for the authorities and concerned public since it witnessed crowds without masks or physical distancing throughout the lockdown period. Tracing contacts of those who might have visited the Koyambedu wholesale market in the past few days has turned out to be a humongous task for the government since the market sees at least 15,000 visitors on a daily basis. The state government has also prepared a list of around 8000 persons from all over Tamil Nadu who had visited the market in the last few days and returned to their hometowns and shared the details with the districts. District administrations are on the job of tracing, quarantining and testing them.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu recorded its highest ever single-day spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases as 527 persons tested positive for the infection. The daily health bulletin released by the state government attributed the sharp spike in numbers to the Koyambedu cluster, thus indicating the gravity of the situation. The impact of the Koyambedu cluster was also felt in districts like Cuddalore, Villupuram and as far as Kanyakumari, which has issued an open request to its people to voluntarily come forward and get themselves tested if they have visited Koyambedu and returned to their homes recently. 

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