CUTTACK: SPREAD of coronavirus infection to the busy Malgodown and Chhatra Bazaar, the two major commodities and vegetable mandis of the State, has become a cause of concern for locals and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).

Official sources said, as many as 11 persons from Malgodown Behera Sahi have tested positive for Covid-19 while two other cases were reported from Chhatra Bazaar.

Though no trader has been infected so far, the new cases were detected from Behera Sahi which is located adjacent to Malgodown.This has fuelled fear of virus transmission in Malgodown as most of the residents in Behera Sahi belong to the labour class who are employed in different godowns in the locality.

Traders across several districts depend on Malgodown, the largest wholesale market for essential commodities while Chhatra Bazaar is the biggest vegetable and fruit wholesale market of the state.

As thousands of traders visit the two markets daily for transaction, spread of the infection to these localities has now posed a new challenge for CMC to contain further spread of coronavirus. Local traders said if the infection is not checked, supply of essentials, vegetables from the two biggest mandis of the State will be hit.

Considering the situation, the CMC’s enforcement squad on Tuesday intensified enforcement activities in Malgodown and sealed a godown for violating social distancing norm.

Going by the situation, the civic body officials are planning to declare the Malgodown Behera Sahi as containment zone. Another round of testing for Covid-19 will be conducted at Behera Sahi on Wednesday.