Meru market allowed to reopen from June 12

THE Selangor Health Department has allowed Pasar Besar Meru, the biggest wet market in Klang, to reopen for business effective Friday (June 12) after it was closed for a week as traders and customers had flouted the standard operating procedures (SOPs) implemented to fight Covid-19.

Selangor Health Department director Datuk Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman said Pasar Besar Meru is allowed to reopen but with strict social distancing rules that will be monitored.

“Our Klang District Health Office environmental health officers had conducted a thorough check on the wet market and have outlined the standard operating procedures with the Klang Municipal Council’s (MPK) Wet Market Unit (WMU), that is to be followed.

“Based on their feedback, we have decided to reopen the market to enable traders to continue their trade and participate in the revival of the district's local commerce. We need the WMU staff to ensure that traders and customers are at a proper distance apart with social distancing rules enforced, ” he said.

On June 5, the market was closed as traders and customers did not follow the SOPs, which included social distancing, recording body temperature and limiting the number of customers allowed into the wholesale market and its daily market section.

Sha’ari added people must adapt to the new normal as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the near past, people crowded around vegetable or meat stalls to choose but now this can’t be done.

For as long as the virus exists, we must conform to social distancing and avoid crowded places. Another thing is to practise high standards of personal hygiene," he added.

Earlier, Klang District Health Office assistant environmental health officer Mazlizan Rosli led a team of officers together with MPK’s WMU chief Mohd Shukri Abd Majid to iron out the SOPs in reopening the market.

Shukri said all 500 traders had been informed that business can resume on Friday at Pasar Besar Meru.

Klang Market Traders Association president Ng Soo Keong said his members were glad that the Selangor Health Department had decided to reopen the market.

“Our traders, 378 in the daily market section and another 117 in the wholesale section, will follow all the guidelines put in place. It would be challenging to do business but we will adapt with the new norms, ” he said.

Meanwhile, Sha’ari added that 16 out of 20 markets operating at the PKNS shop lots, across Pasar Besar Meru that were ordered to shut down for a week, will also be allowed to reopen for business.

“We found that four traders in the shop lots have failed to meet with the health standards and will remain closed until it meets all the standards required, ” he said.

Sha’ari also advised that children below the age of 12, infants and senior citizens must be kept away from large crowds as they are considered high-risk groups.