TN market emerges a cluster as state records 10k cases
Nearly 2,500 cases in the state have been linked to Koyambedu Market complex
NEW DELHI: As Tamil Nadu crossed 10,000 cases on Friday, a wholesale market of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers in Chennai has become the latest warzone for the administration battling the spread of the coronavirus disease. According to a state government official, around 4,000 people linked to the market have already been tested out of which 1,000 are primary contacts.
NEWDELHI: As Tamil Nadu crossed 10,000 cases on Friday — the first case, a 45-year-old man with a travel history to Oman, was detected in early March — a wholesale market of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers in Chennai became the latest warzone for the administration battling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The state recorded 434 new cases on Friday, while the death toll was 71.
According to a government official, around 4,000 people linked to the market have already been tested, of which 1,000 are primary contacts. At least 2,500 cases currently pertain to the Koyambedu Market cluster, which is higher than the 1,350 cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat religious conference.
The Koyambedu hot spot is also responsible for cases in 10 districts other than Chennai. “We have either carried out facility quarantine or home quarantine of those who started the journey from Koyambedu,” the official quoted above said.
Spread over 54 acres, Koyambedu market complex is one of the largest wholesale market complexes for perishable goods in India. It houses more than 1000 wholesalers and over 2000 retail shops. On May 4, 300 of the 527 new cases reported were found to be linked to the market. Within hours, it was shut down.
According to S Ram Mohan, a core committee member of the Joint Action Committee of vegetable vendors’ associations at Koyambedu market, the district administration shut down flower and fruit sales well before May 4. By then, even the vegetable retailers had stopped operations.
On April 28, retail traders and fruit sellers from Koyambedu were relocated to a suburb. Expecting wholesalers to do likewise would have been difficult as few open spaces in the city have the capacity to handle 3,000 tonnes of vegetables each day, GD Rajasekaran, president, Koyambedu Periyar Market Association, said. On April 24, the state announced a hard lockdown for four days, between April 26 and 29. This led to a spate in panic buying. Mohan recounted scenes of utter chaos in Koyambedu in the two days before the hard lockdown was enforced. On April 30, another round of panic buying ensued after people realised that the second leg of the lockdown would likely be extended.
Last week, chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami blamed the traders for not vacating the market in March itself. “Now, because many from Koyambedu had travelled to other districts, the number of infected there has gone up. This is the reason for the spike in cases in Chennai also,” he said. However, Mohan said no official meeting was held between the wholesale vendors and the authorities in March or April.
Super-spreading events have played a much bigger role in the virus spread in Tamil Nadu than in Maharashtra and Gujarat — two other states that have seen huge numbers of Covid-19 cases, experts said.
The spike in numbers due to the Koyambedu cluster is immediately noticeable. Between April 24 and May 3, the average daily new cases reported in Tamil Nadu were 134; from May 4 to May 13, the average grew to 620 a day. Persons linked to the market have spread the virus the neighbouring states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. T Jacob John, a former professor of Virology, Christian Medical College, Vellore blamed ad-hoc decisions and panic because of the lockdown.
DrVRamanaDhara,professor at Indian Institute of Public Health-Hyderabad, said: “The more you test, the more you find. Tamil Nadu is finding more cases because they are testing more.”