Shoppers Head To Wet Market Despite Covid Scare

Shoppers continued to visit a Covid-hit wet market in Yau Tong on Tuesday, with some saying they don’t have much of a choice even as they acknowledged concerns about the possibility of getting infected.

Health authorities had on Monday issued a mandatory testing order for anyone who had been to the ground floor of Lei Yue Mun Market for more than two hours from March 24, after confirming that three Covid-19 patients had recently been there.

One shopper told RTHK he shops there every day because he doesn’t really have a choice.

“There’s only one wet market in Yau Tong, what are we to do with our three daily meals if we don’t go and buy ingredients?” he queried.

But a woman who was among those queuing up for a free coronavirus test at a mobile testing centre outside the market said she would avoid shopping there for now – at least until she gets her test result.

“I won’t go for a couple of days as I have extra food stored at home.”

Vendors who continued plying their wares, though, say they don’t have much choice but to get back to business as usual because of the need to continue paying their rent.

A vendor at a vegetable stall told us while she’s worried, there’s not much in the way of added precautions she could take.

“Cash is dirty… everyone has touched it. [I’m wearing] a nicer face mask.. what else can we do? We’re here more than 10 hours every day,” she said, adding that she would changing her face mask more often.

A woman at a grocery store told RTHK that she would ask customers not to touch the goods as a precaution.

“We will help them pick up the products, and if they’re not wearing their masks properly, we’ll remind them,” she said.

Some vendors said there were fewer people at the market than usual.