SIBU, April 16: The Sibu Central Market will be closed tomorrow, the second time after the first one from Feb 9 to 28.
Sibu Divisional Disaster Management Committee wanted it to close as it is located in the town centre which is one of the seven Covid-19 zones that are placed under special movement restriction from April 16 to 26.
However Sibu Municipal Council wanted a shorter break of four days only.
“We have appealed to Sibu Division MC to have the central market close for four days only starting April 16 as the market is in the essential service sector,” said chairman of Market and Petty Trader, Councillor Albert Tiang.
Tiang said the council would impose new measures to manage the Covid-19 in the market during the proposed four-day closure.
Sibu Central Market Hawkers Association chairman, Yiing Chung Ming personally felt that it was better to impose a blanket lockdown for the town for one to two months rather than partially.
“No need to close certain parts only but better to close the whole town for between one to two months so everybody just stay at home. This way we can better control the spread of the coronavirus,” he opined
He reasoned that with special movement restrictions being imposed only in seven zones with a high number of cases from midnight of April 16 to 26, it would not help much to curb the spread of the virus.
The seven zones are Sukun/Lada, Mantis, Poh Yew, Bukit Lima, Tong Sang, town centre and Tiong Hua.
“If we don’t do that (blanket lockdown) the situation won’t improve much as you can see it is almost a year now where the pandemic is still in our midst,” he added.
Yiing said though they would not have income during the lengthy closure of the central market when blanket lockdown is imposed, it was much better as they could protect their safety and that of visitors.
“No business never mind. The long closure is good for our safety and that of the visitors,” he added.
The hawkers of the market, he said are tired that they have to go through another closure.
“We are tired of this open-close and open-close of the market. There is nothing we can do about it,” he said. — DayakDaily
