Chennai's 65-acre Koyambedu market become corona market with 527 cases

Tamil Nadu on Monday reported a massive spike in COVID-19 numbers with 527 people testing positive in a single day, courtesy the Koyambedu market cluster that has emerged as the newest hotspot for coronavirus infections. With retail sales at the Koyambedu market shut down, many workers had gone to their native districts and were tested positive there. The districts - Cuddalore, Villupuram, Chennai, Perambalur, and Ariyalur - have the major concentration of Covid-19 patients connected to the Koyambedu market.

According to officials, the names of truckers, loaders, vendors, and others who were present and dealing at Koyambedu have been sent to their respective districts for tracing and testing. Meanwhile, the authorities have ordered the closure of the Koyambedu market and now vegetable wholesale trade will happen at Thirumazhisai from Thursday onwards. "There are about 200 wholesale vegetable sellers and over 1,000 retail vegetable sellers operating in Koyambedu. The market also has traders in fruits and flowers. On a normal day, about 7,000 persons would visit these markets," S. Chandran, President, Koyambedu Periyar Market Licensed Merchants' Association told IANS. Meanwhile, the Health Department also said that over the past 24 hours, a total of 12,863 samples were tested in the state. A total of 30 Covid-19 patients were discharged from various hospitals in the state, taking the total tally to 1,409 persons.