Two test Covid-19 positive in Ghazipur mandi, market shut for two days

Officials at the wholesale market said the closure was necessary to sanitise the market and control the spread of the disease.

The Delhi government on Thursday closed the Ghazipur fruit and vegetable wholesale market for two days after two officials of the market committee tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Security personal are seen at the Ghazipur Mandi after it was closed, during lockdown, in New Delhi. (Ajay Aggarwal / Hindustan Times)

Officials at the wholesale market said the closure was necessary to sanitise the market and control the spread of the disease.

SP Gupta, chairman of the Ghazipur Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), said the market will remain closed for trading activities on Thursday and Friday.

“The deputy secretary and secretary of the market management committee tested positive for Covid-19 over Tuesday and Wednesday. We closed our office as soon as we came to know about the first case on Tuesday,” Gupta said.

Around 10 officials of the market committee have been in direct contact with the two Covid-19 patients. “All are in home quarantine and their samples will be taken on Friday for testing,” he said.

Ghazipur Mandi is the second-largest wholesale vegetable and fruit market in the city, after Azadpur. The Ghazipur wholesale market is spread over one square kilometre area and receives around 400 trucks a day. The wholesale market every day gets around 1,300 tonnes of vegetables and fruits supply. Ghazipur market caters to the fruit and vegetable supply to East Delhi markets as well to Noida and Ghaziabad markets.

Ashok Kheda, a wholesale trader in Ghazipur market, said it was a “wise” decision to completely shut the market, otherwise the situation could turn worse.

“Wholesale markets are vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus disease because of crowding. This is the first time that Covid-19 cases have been reported here. Closing the market for two days will surely have some impact on vegetable and fruit supplies in the eastern parts of the city but it is necessary for the greater good of the public,” he said.

A senior district administration official, who wished not to be named, said the exercise of spraying of disinfectant in the market has begun and would be completed by Friday evening. “Contact tracing of the two patients is underway and testing of those who had come in contact with them will be conducted on Friday. I’m hopeful that the market will start functioning smoothly from Saturday,” the official said.

This is not the first time that Covid-19 cases have been reported from Delhi’s wholesale markets.

On April 24, a total of 300 shops were closed at Azadpur APMC, Asia’s biggest vegetable and fruit market, after the death of a trader who tested positive for Covid-19. So far, 18 Covid-19 have been reported from the Azadpur wholesale market.