As the country grapples with a more deadly second wave of the pandemic, the movement of people in public places has decreased significantly in the busiest market town of Vizianagaram.
The city, an important economic and commercial center in the North Andhra region, is always full of activity and sees a large crowd at the PW Market, Balaji Market, Clock Tower Crossing, Pyditalli Ammavari Temple and Vulli Veedhi Retailers and customers from many countries including the neighboring states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
With the state’s wedding season starting, almost all businesses expected decent business in April and May.
However, the surge in COVID cases in the district has cast a shadow over their plans.
With many retailers succumbing to COVID in 2020, shopkeepers are cautious this time around and don’t want to take any chances. In light of this, the President of the Vizianagaram Chamber of Commerce, Kedarasetti Sitaramamurthy, and the Secretary General, Kapuganti Srinivas, are considering restricting trading hours.
“We will continue to monitor the situation for a week and seek suggestions from all dealers as to whether or not to limit business hours,” said Srinivas.
Active cases exceed 1,000
Meanwhile, at a meeting, the President of the Balaji Textile Market, B. Venkata Rao, called for the strict implementation of COVID-appropriate behavior in all shops and facilities.
The district administration, concerned about the 1,000 cases exceeding in the past 10 days, is expected to hold a meeting with representatives from theaters and restaurants.
With the state government unwilling to re-lock, officials believed that restricting working hours would minimize the effects of COVID. Vizianagaram collector M. Hari Jawaharlal, Vizianagaram community commissioner SSVarma, and District Medical and Health Doctor SVRamana Kumari and other officials have been monitoring the situation on a daily basis to take the necessary preventive measures to contain the infection.