Banglamung orders temporary closure of two markets

Banglamung –

The Banglamung District Chief Wuttisak Sainghadachoe ordered the temporary closure of two markets in Banglamung for seven days starting earlier this week.

The order states, “Many Covid -19 confirmed cases have been found in market workers and vendors, as well as resellers of market supplies. Some patients have given timelines to authorities that they went to markets at the Rai Wanasin Market and Rattanakorn Central Market.”

“To control the spread of the virus, the Banglamung District Chief has ordered the temporary closure of Rai Wanasin Markets and Rattanakorn Central Market for seven days from Monday (July 26^th) until August 1^st for complete testing and timeline investigation of staff, as well as an overall cleaning of the premises.” The order continued.

Sellers at the two markets told The Pattaya News they have to keep vegetables and other ingredients in refrigerators as they have already ordered and are unable to cancel orders. They stated that the seven-day closure would be a major loss in income and revenue for all vendors at the market and did not expect any sort of financial aid from the government for the forced closure.

TPN media notes that closing markets are always controversial, as they are the primary source of food shopping for most Thai residents on a budget and also a major livelihood for families and individuals, as well as agriculture and farming in Thailand. Nearly all market vendors and suppliers are “informal” workers, which means they don’t have social security and get very little, if any, aid from the government. Authorities have generally been resistant to closing markets overall, despite the fact they are high-risk locations for Covid-19, due to these reasons.