Ting (centre) with Bujang and Tiang (right) seen during their visit to Sibu Central Market.
SIBU (April 14): Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) would no longer close the entire Sibu Central Market in the event of Covid-19 cases being detected there; instead, it would only cordon off the affected sections, said council chairman Clarence Ting.
He said while ordering the closure of the entire premises was the simplest way of dealing with the matter, such response was not a sustainable long-term solution.
“Closing is the easiest – we just close it, but how do we open it (later)?
“Last time when we opened on March 1, we had to swab over 700 people (traders), so if you counted, the government had spent about RM100,000.
“Rather than doing that, we would just cordon off the affected areas where the positive cases are and see whether it works or not. This is a different way of doing things so that other people do not have to suffer,” he told reporters when visiting central market yesterday.
Ting said he received news from the Health Ministry that since the market’s reopening on March 1, a total of 17 Covid-19 cases had been detected among the traders.
He said due to this, SMC was required to close the market for another two weeks.
With the council’s new approach, he said the affected sections would be sealed off for three days and be subject to sanitisation works.
“Closing the whole market because of the positive cases at certain areas is not fair for the hawkers at the other areas in the market.
“The economy is not good. We have to look after not just the hawkers, but the economy as well. We have to look at the financial situation,” Ting said , adding that closing the central market would lead to overcrowding at other markets in Sibu.
He also said to better manage crowd control, the council would put up permanent fences around the market to ensure that people would only go through the main entry point.
He said SMC would also call upon the Sibu Central Market management to submit the proposal so that the project could be implemented as soon as possible.
Accompanying Ting during the visit were SMC deputy chairman Bujang Abdul Majid and SMC Market and Petty Traders standing committee chairman Councillor Albert Tiang.