The decision on weekly closure was taken at a meeting between CMDA officials including Member-Secretary D Karthikeyan and the representatives of the traders’ associations. Karthikeyan also inspected the preparedness at the market on Thursday.

“Persons entering the market premises will be checked, including using thermal scanners, for symptoms. All vehicles will be disinfected before allowing inside. The market will be closed on Fridays to clean and maintain the premises,” an official said. Retail trade will be banned inside the market, and two-wheelers and autorickshaws will not be allowed. All shop owners have been instructed to have face masks, thermal scanners, oxymeters and disinfectants. Workers should wear a knitted shirt as a uniform. Face masks and social distancing would be mandatory inside the premises.

Shop owners have also been instructed to collect the details of the workers. Vendors coming to purchase would be allowed inside the market only up to 9 am, after which the gates will be closed. However, lorries carrying vegetables and other producers to the wholesale market will be allowed between 9 pm to 5 am.

“Action will be taken if anyone violates the instructions,” the CMDA has warned.

The market was closed on May 4 after a huge number of COVID-19 cases were reported among the workers and traders, and spread to smaller markets elsewhere in the city. The wholesale market was shifted to a makeshift facility at Tirumazhisai where only retail vendors were allowed to procure vegetables. However, citing the distance from the city, traders have been urging the government to reopen the Koyambedu market.