PATHUM THANI: Vendors at two closed wet markets in Thanyaburi district at the centre of a Covid-cluster are unhappy with the authorities' decision to extend the closure, saying the rising number of cases are not all linked to the two market places.
Pannee Paophan, a noodle vendor at Pornpat market in Thanyaburi district, said on Wednesday that vendors and labourers employed there would be hard-hit by the extended closure.
The Pornpat and Suchart markets in tambon Prachathipat were closed on Friday and had been due to reopen on Wednesday. The closure was instead extended to Feb 25.
Ms Pannee said they had no income but still had to buy food and pay rent, electricity and other bills.
Their landlords were not discounting the rent, and the market owners were not providing any assistance to vendors who rented their stalls but could no longer work from them.
She also complained about the setting up of a Covid-19 screening point at Pornpat market.
All vendors and workers there had already been tested, but officials were taking people who lived nearby there for Covid-19 testing. When infections were detected, they were wrongly reported as being from Pornpat market, she said.
There were no new Covid-19 cases at the market, and the number was small, she said.
The misleading reports about the rise in Covid-19 cases, numbering 200-300, at the market scared people away, she said.
She aired her grievances to reporters as Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited the market on Wednesday. (continues below)
People wait for Covid-19 testing at Pornpat market in Pathum Thani on Wednesday. (Photo: Pongpat Wongyala)
A fishball vendor at Suchart market, who gave his name as Onn, 53, also said everyone working at the two wet markets had been checked for Covid-19 in the first round of testing.
After that, factory workers living near the markets were tested. When they tested positive, their infections were reported as being at the markets.
About 1,000 people worked at Suchart market, but authorities announced that more than 3,000 people were tested there. Most of the people tested there were from other places, he said.
He called for state agencies to look into the plight of people affected by the extended closure of the two markets. If more infections were found, the markets would be closed even longer.
“Authorities initially told us that the markets would be closed for five days, but now the closure has been extended for nine more days. I want to ask what the vendors will eat. We are suffering now,’’ Mr Onn said.
During his visit to Pornpat market, Mr Anutin expressed confidence that provincial authorities had done their best to stop the spread of the Covid-19 cluster.
Pathum Thani governor Chaiwat Chuenkosum on Wednesday said he had put Pol Lt-Gen Kamronwit Toopkrajang, chairman of the provincial administration organisation, in charge of controlling the Covid-19 outbreak in the province.
When Covid-19 vaccines arrived, people living at two markets would be inoculated, the governor said.
On Wednesday morning, at least 50 people were seen queueing for Covid-19 testing at Pornpat market.
The governor said officials could test 1,000 people a day.