Traders flout Covid-19 guidelines; claim the disease is a myth

Despite fears of resurgence around the city, APMCs in Yeswanthpur flout guidelines in broad daylight

Bengaluru: The Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) yard in Yeswanthpur is always buzzing with farmers and buyers. And yet most of them seem to care little about social distancing and sanitation. Only a couple of people were observed wearing masks. 

Agricultural produce from around the country is traded in the Yeshwanthpur APMC, drawing thousands of people every day. While the vaccination programme is yet to be fully rolled out, people’s defiance of guidelines threaten to derail the efforts to curb a resurgence of the pandemic.

“We are following the guidelines issued by the central government as best as we can,” said K.M. Vasundhara, Assistant director of APMC. “Since the cases are rising, we are trying our best to implement social distancing.”

Many individuals in the APMC market were seen ignoring Covid-19 prevention guidelines as issued by the government. The State Department of Health has issued certain guidelines to follow at public places such as social distancing, face masks and regular sanitation. The government has also put a limit on the footfall at the APMCs.  

Keerti, a truck driver from Andhra Pradesh was not wearing a mask and says that he doesn’t have the money to buy masks. 

“We breathe in spices and dust all day. How can we get infected by covid-19?” asks Abdul, a trader who was seen not wearing a mask. “Since the government announced the market to open up, it has been over crowded and there is no social distancing and people are not wearing the mask.” 

“There is nothing like corona, it is a myth,” said Manohar Yadav, a farmer from Ashta, Madhya Pradesh. “We are already immune to this disease.” 

“Not following the guidelines could lead to an outbreak again as the spreading of disease can’t be controlled simply by using medicine and vaccine,” said Aayushi Solanki, MBBS, (Professor) Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru. “We need to follow the guidelines to break the spread of the Covid-19, if not the disease will evolve and also be resistant.”