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KUALA LUMPUR: Passing Borong Kuala Lumpur has confirmed a total of 118 positive cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday (January 19).
The president of the Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesale Association, Wong Keng Fatt, said 31 workers in the vegetable section and 87 in the fish section were infected with the coronavirus.
“We hired a private lab to do RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) testing on workers and the results were shared with three merchant associations here.
“The workers in the fruit section were evaluated as of yesterday and the results are likely to be ready by Thursday (January 21),” he told StarMetro on Tuesday (January 19).
Meanwhile, the fish section of the market was closed for disinfection from Monday (January 18) to January 21, and the section will resume operations on January 22.
Wong added that a meeting between the associations, the Ministry of Health, the National Security Council and the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) would be held on Wednesday (January 20) to decide whether the wholesale market should be closed.
“Before that, we had told our association members that we would close on Thursday so they could manage their imported supplies accordingly.
“Judging by the seriousness of the situation, the vegetable section is expected to be closed for several days for disinfection, but a total closure is unlikely.
“We are still awaiting the remaining results of the tests performed on the fruit and vegetable vendors and workers,” he said.
The massive tests were conducted since last weekend when more than 15 cases of Covid-19 were detected among fishmongers last week.
Wong added that he hoped the government would give them at least two days to manage their supplies if they closed to disinfect them.
“Previously, whenever there was a shutdown, it was done abruptly and we had a hard time selling existing supplies and stopping imported orders.
“For orders imported from Thailand, we need time to alert our suppliers,” he said, adding that he hoped the same would not happen again.
Kuala Lumpur Hoi Seong Fish Wholesale Association Chairman Sing Kian Hock could not be reached for comment.
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