Vegetable, fish and other markets, almost all commercial establishments barring pharmacies and restaurants remained shut on Sunday in view of the surging COVID-19 spread.
The city’s streets on the winter morning were deserted. The only people on road were workers returning home after night shift, private security personnel leaving work, food delivery personnel and Coimbatore City Police personnel.
The M.G.R. wholesale vegetable market on Mettupalayam Road was closed. Gates locked at the entrance indicated no activity inside. The otherwise busy Anna retail vegetable market in Saibaba Colony too was closed.
There was almost nobody in the Coimbatore Corporation fish market in Ukkadam. In flower market on Mettupalayam Road, while no largescale sale happened, a few traders were seen selling flowers from behind the curtains they had hung in front of the shops. The scene in farmers’ markets in R.S. Puram, Vadavalli, Singanallur and other places was no different.
The Coimbatore Corporation had in a tweet appealed to people stay indoors and observe all COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.
Making use of the absence of traffic, the Corporation engaged in mass cleaning of roads.