Covid caution thrown to the wind in Lahore's markets

However, the defined standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not being implemented in most shopping malls and markets to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Traders said they have displayed notices for implementation of the SOPs in their shops and markets, while the Punjab health secretary said the citizens should follow the safety guidelines while shopping.

Markets including Shah Alam, Mochi Gate, Circular Road, Mall Road, Hall Road, Anarkali, Neela Gumbad, Old Anarkali, Baden Road, Branderth Road, Ichra, Liberty Market and MM Alam Road were opened. Hustle and bustle is on the rise, but only a few people wear masks, sanitisers and temperature screening at gates are missing and the advice to maintain mutual distance is also being ignored.

Traders and shopkeepers are happy on the opening of markets. They said that the time of lockdown was very hard with the opening of the business the life had started returning to normalcy. Shoe, clothes, mobile phone, laptop, plastic, hardware and barber shops have also opened in the city. A traders’ leader, Ashraf Bhatti, said they had displayed notices outside shops and in various places in markets asking buyers to wear masks and maintain social distance. “There is also a ban on entering shops without masks, but how can shopkeepers force people to follow SOPs?” Distance among people cannot be ensured in a crowd and the buyers should take care to ensure that they follow the government SOPs so that their own lives and those of others can be saved.

On the other hand, Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Care Capt (retd) Muhammad Usman said that all business centres were bound to implement the SOPs. Action will be taken against violators. He said that the danger has not been averted yet and the people should be careful. He also said that business hours and weekly holidays would be the same as before the pandemic.

Some citizens said they were scared to see the non-serious behaviour of the people in the markets. On one hand, coronavirus has claimed thousands of lives, but on the other hand the citizens are not paying attention to the SOPs, they said.

A customer wearing a mask said he had come to the Hall Road Market to buy some goods but more than 80 per cent of the people there were without masks. Most of the shopkeepers were also not offering masks to customers. Most vendors were also not wearing masks.

He said only a few shopkeepers had kept sanitisers.

Another customer, Rabia, said she was saddened by the attitude of the citizens. Earlier it was demanded that businesses be opened but now that the government had given the permission, they were not ready to follow any of the SOPs, she said. She said the government and market administration should deploy staff at the entrances to stop customers not wearing masks.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2020.