The Coimbatore Corporation commenced random COVID-19 screenings and vaccination drives for the vendors of wholesale markets on Thursday as part of its strategy to identify any possible clusters early.
Sources in the Corporation said the positivity rate had been less than 5% in Corporation limits and that this initiative was to ensure that the vendors did not become super-spreaders following relaxations in the lockdown. Around 250 vendors from Flower Market along with Anna and MGR vegetable markets were vaccinated on Thursday and swab samples were collected randomly to test for COVID-19.
The Corporation aims to vaccinate the vendors from all the wholesale markets in the next two weeks and expand this initiative to retail markets later, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, swab samples of a few members of the public who ventured outside on two-wheelers near the Flower Market in R.S. Puram who were willing to get tested for COVID-19 were also lifted, the sources said.
