BUTTERWORTH – With Covid-19 cases on the rise, roughly 200 shops, comprising stalls and restaurants in Taman Chai Leng, Prai have voluntarily closed following a request from a local trade association.
The Taman Chai Leng Hawkers and Traders Association has urged its members to suspend their operations in a bid to curb Covid-19 spreading at the nearby housing estate, among their customer base and the general public.
In response, around 95% of more than 200 shops, mostly essential services such as hawkers and restaurants located within the community, opted to shut down for five days from today until Wednesday as requested by the association.
Earlier, there was a surge in the number of positive cases in the estate’s wet market where around 33 traders were confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19 together with 44 residents of Taman Chai Leng.
When contacted by The Vibes, the association’s chairman Tan Hock Chai confirmed that they have asked the traders to close their operations voluntarily but refused to elaborate further on the matter.
“We cannot force the traders to close but we asked them to do it voluntarily and they voluntarily did it,” Tan said.
The association representatives had distributed a handwritten letter in Chinese to its members in the housing estate which was in line with the Health Department’s decision to close the wet market Monday.
It is also understood that Deputy Chief Minister and Prai assemblyman P. Ramasamy and state Welfare and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh and the relevant department officers are meeting today to discuss the status in the area.
Meanwhile, Seberang Prai City Council (MBSP) Mayor Datuk Rozali Mohamud yesterday said authorities were unable to reach 17 stall assistants who worked at the market, as they had failed to undergo Covid-19 screening.
Rozali said they needed to undergo the screening following 33 positive cases detected involving traders, stall assistants, association members and public assistants at the public market previously.
He added that until Thursday, a total of 152 people had been screened, including 19 MBSP employees.
“MBSP has issued a notice of instruction to 143 traders inside the public market and 56 morning market traders outside the MBSP public market building to conduct a screening test and report the test results to MBSP.
“Traders who fail to undergo the screening will not be allowed to reopen their businesses when the market opens on June 29 or until further notice by the Seberang Prai Tengah district Health Department,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Rozali asked those related to the issue to contact the MBSP Licensing Department at 04-5497685 during office hours or directly contact the association chairman for further clarifications. – The Vibes, June 26, 2021
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