Covid-infected Mehrauli vegetable vendor didn’t get space in shifted market, ‘got lucky’, distt admin says

As many as 2,514 have contracted the contagious disease in the national capital. It has claimed 53 lives, while 857 have recovered. As on Friday, Delhi’s south district alone had at least 106 Covid-19 cases and 13 containment zones.

The south Delhi district administration may have averted a Covid-19 outbreak in Mehrauli by ordering the neighbourhood vegetable market be shifted to a DTC bus terminal in the area on April 11.

A vegetable vendor from Mehrauli, who on Thursday tested positive for Covid-19, did not come in contact with many people because he failed to get a designated vending space in the relocated market. (HT file photo. Representative image)

It turns out that a vegetable vendor from Mehrauli, who on Thursday tested positive for Covid-19, did not come in contact with many people because he failed to get a designated vending space in the relocated market. The market had been ordered to shift to allow social distancing, which would not have been possible in the original space.

As many as 2,514 have contracted the contagious disease in the national capital. It has claimed 53 lives, while 857 have recovered. As on Friday, Delhi’s south district alone had at least 106 Covid-19 cases and 13 containment zones.

“The infected person was a regular vendor at the main Mehrauli market. But he was among 100-odd vendors who did not get space at the bus terminal because we could accommodate just over 50 traders there due to social distancing norms. So, they went to their homes and sold goods only occasionally, by going from block to block,” said Aarti Singh, Mehrauli councillor.

The vegetable vendor lives in Mehrauli’s ward number 3. Officials said all the residents of the area are being thermally screened, and those who display symptoms will be tested. However, as of Friday evening, officials said nobody screened needed a test.

The area’s sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Sonalika Jiwani, who had issued the order to shift the wholesale vegetable market from the main Mehrauli market, corroborated Singh’s statement.

“The patient’s son told us this. He also told us how his father started developing symptoms last week and mostly stayed indoors since then. So, the number of people he came in touch with are limited so far. Now that we think of it, the decision to shift the market was taken just in time. If he had gotten a space at the terminal, then the spread would have been massive. We got lucky,” Jiwani said.

Originally, the wholesale vegetable market used to operate from a small, tightly-packed area. Under the temporary arrangement at the bus terminal, vendors have been 10 square-feet stalls, each space two metres apart.

“To ensure people in the market are not infected by the virus, and to prevent its spread, each person who enters is thermally scanned and asked to sanitise their hands. We have also made only one entry and one exit point to ensure strict compliance to these norms,” she said.

While the vendor is undergoing treatment in a hospital, his wife and children have been quarantined, and their tests results are awaited.

District magistrate (south), BM Mishra said the administration is considering this as an “isolation case” as of now because they have been unable to trace the source of his infection.

District officials on Friday started intensive door-to-door screening of people living in and around the main Mehrauli market.

“Since contact tracing in this particular case is extremely limited, we are conducting thermal screening in every household in the area. As on Friday, areas in the main market and Ward Number 3 of Mehrauli, which was also the place of residence of the infected vendor, were covered. More will be covered over the weekend,” said Mishra.

District official and civil defence volunteers were seen patrolling neighbourhoods and making announcements on loudspeakers to alert residents of the situation, and reminding them to remain indoors.

“We are urging people to report to us or call the Covid-19 helpline if anyone shows symptoms or feels he/she could have come in contact with the vendor or any other infected person,” Mishra said.