City markets to operate from 7am to noon; only essential items will be sold

Vendors who sell essential items at City markets will be allowed to ply their trade from 07:00hrs to noon daily under certain sanitary and social distancing guidelines.

Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine in a video statement on Monday noted that every vendor will be required to wear face masks while shoppers will only be allowed to enter the markets if they too are wearing masks.

“Wearing of masks is mandatory for the safety of ourselves and patrons…“before you step out to do any essential business in the public, I appeal to you, wear a face mask,” Mayor Narine noted.

He said produce must be stored six inches above the ground and vendors are required to regularly sanitize surfaces with bleach and water. Additionally, all meats are expected to be packaged and not left out in the open air.

Failure to comply with the measures will lead to penalties laid out in the Public Health Ordinance Act.

The City Council last week announced that it has taken a decision to shut down all city markets from Friday night.

This notice was trumped by an order issued by the Ministry of Health with a large number of measures for a countrywide lockdown from 18:00hrs to 06:00hrs daily.

The Mayor said the markets were being sanitized and will be reopened this week. He disclosed that the Bourda and Stabroek Markets will be reopened on Tuesday while the others will be reopened by the end of the week.

As it relates to controlling the number of persons entering the city markets, the Mayor said this is being addressed.

Persons are asked to maintain physical distancing in order to protect themselves and others.

“Maintain two metres distance between yourselves and others especially anyone with flu-like symptoms,” the Mayor said.

Those persons operating caravans are asked to provide sinks for persons to wash their hands before and after serving customers.

As it relates to restaurants, the Mayor said these businesses must only operate for delivery, drive-through and take away service.

The City’s notice is subject to change in accordance with the national guidelines.

As of Monday, Guyana confirmed 29 positive cases of the COVID-19. The deaths remain at four.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 1.2M cases globally with over 67,000 deaths.