Coronavirus advisory: For markets and shopping centres

What precautions can supermarkets take, to prevent the spread of coronavirus? And how can you, as a customer, cooperate? Here's an advisory from BBMP.

With Bengaluru in lockdown, even procuring food from your neighbourhood supermarket may seem like a difficult task. There’s a threat that coronavirus can spread rapidly when people come in close contact in public places. To address the safety of staff as well as customers in markets and shopping centres, BBMP has issued the following advisory:

  1. Time-bound sales promotion offers, that have the potential to draw large crowds within a limited time frame, are strictly prohibited.
  2. It is advised to introduce ‘time-bound token system’ for shopping.
  3. Reduce overcrowding inside the shopping outlet. It needs to be appreciated that despite the lockdown, marts have been kept open just so that people can shop for essentials.
  4. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers shall be made available at various points in the shopping area.
  5. Railings, door knobs, handles, floors, billing tables/counters and any surface likely to be touched by any person, are to be cleaned periodically with sodium hypochlorite, bleaching powder or any other effective disinfectant.
  6. Staff operating in the outlet should be trained on hand hygiene and sanitation.
  7. Any staff reporting symptoms – fever, cough, cold or respiratory distress – should be granted sick leave, and advised to seek medical attention.
  8. As far as possible, it is advised to discourage customers from touching commodities indiscriminately. Instead, assistants may be placed adequately to help them pick products.
  9. There shall be no crowding at billing counters at any point of time. Owner and management of the outlet have to ensure adequate number of staff at the counters. They should also make additional arrangements to handle crowds at counters during weekends.
  10. Informative, Educative & Communicative (IEC) materials approved by the government shall be made available in soft copies. These can be printed and displayed in the premises to create awareness. (Don’t print flex banners.)

The original copy of this advisory can be accessed here. BBMP’s message to all is, “Help us to Help you. Let us fight COVID-19 together. Stay Home, Be Safe.”

On 17 March, BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar tweeted that all supermarkets will have to issue time-bound tokens, so as to restrict large crowds and reduce the spread of the virus. His tweet said, “Advisory has been issued for #supermarkets to restrict crowds, issue tokens and maintain hygiene to minimise the spread of #COVID19.’’ 

[This article is based on a press release from BBMP, and has been published with edits]

Comments:

  1. Julian C says:

    Breaking the chain from Asymptomatic people

    A large number of COVID-19 cases could have been prevented if everyone was made to wear a proper mask from Stage1. In China, large number of the people got infected from asymptomatic people. Now positive cases due to asymptomatic is increasing globally. If only all people were made to wear quality masks, a significant number of cascaded new infections would have been prevented. There would be drastically less infected numbers, as aerosol droplets would not be in the air nor on objects. If medical staff have to wear masks to prevent infection, then why can’t all citizens be made to do so?
    • Govt should insist on wearing of masks
    • Hospital PR dept should create videos on mask guidelines. People can spread awareness with this authentic information
    • Govt should distribute recommended masks to the poor along with food packets
    • Masks with Social Distancing will break the chain

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Under the scorching sun: Heat stress takes a toll on healthcare workers in Chennai

Despite experiencing heat-related health issues and high workloads, nurses in Chennai receive no support to brave extreme heat conditions.

On March 3rd, Primary Health Centres (PHC) in Chennai conducted the annual Pulse Polio Immunization campaign for children between the age group of 0-5 years. To ensure no child is missed, the Urban Health Nurses (UHN) made door-to-door visits on March 4 to administer polio drops.  While the initiative garnered praise from all quarters, the tireless efforts of health nurses who walked kilometres under the scorching sun, went unnoticed. On March 4, at 2.30 pm, Meenambakkam and Nungambakkam weather stations in Chennai recorded the maximum temperature of 32.2 degrees C and 31.4 degrees C. However, as the humidity levels were…

Similar Story

Delayed upgradation of hospitals in Mumbai’s suburbs; patients rely on private care

Despite having allocated funds to upgrade suburban civic hospitals, BMC has not been able to redevelop them on time.

When Sangeeta Kharat noticed a lump near her neck, she sought treatment at MT Agarwal Municipal Hospital, Mulund, near her residence. Doctors diagnosed her with thyroid nodules, an abnormal growth of cells on the thyroid gland, and referred her to Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Corporation Hospital at Sion for further treatment. Sangeeta's son, Rajan, initially opted for treatment at Sion Hospital. However, due to the distance and frequency of trips with his job, they decided to switch to a nearby private hospital despite higher costs. Rajan said, " If the MT Agarwal super-speciality hospital had been available, we wouldn't have needed…