Bangkok’s biggest weekend market reopens under strict measures

Bangkok, May 10 (IANS): Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market, the biggest in Thailand, has reopened with strict measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Officials of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Saturday checked the temperature of each incoming shopper and vendor at all gates of the market, which had been temporarily closed to contain the Covid-19 spread over the last two months, reports Xinhua news agency.

All shoppers and vendors were required to wear face masks, wash their hands with sanitizer gel and observe social distancing to protect themselves from possible infection, according to a BMA official.

All food shops and non-alcoholic beverage stalls in the premises of the BMA-run market were required to keep one seat for a customer about 1.5 meters apart from another while public utilities such as seats, toilets and ATMs were to be cleaned up at a two-hour interval, the official said.

However, the weekend market, which used to open until late in the evening, is currently only allowed to operate from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m. for all shoppers and vendors to call it a day and leave well before curfew hours, starting at 10 p.m.

Thailand has so far reported 3,004 Covid-19 cases, with 56 deaths.