WESTMORELAND, Jamaica— Chairman of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, Bertram Moore, says the Savanna-la-Mar market, which was closed at 2:00 pm on Saturday for cleaning and sanitising, will reopen at 6:00 am tomorrow.

The exercise at the facility began yesterday and is expected to be completed later today.

Since Wednesday, markets islandwide, as required by government as part of its efforts to curtail spread of the novel coronavirus, have been operating from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm daily.

Moore told OBSERVER ONLINE that since the early closure of the markets was implemented, the Savanna-la-Mar market has been washed daily after closing time.

He stressed that when the market reopens tomorrow the early closure will continue until the prime minister announces otherwise.

When OBSERVER ONLINE  visited the facility at about 2:30 pm on Saturday some market vendors were still operating while only a few were seen packing up their goods as they prepared to leave the facility.

One vendor pointed out that although she stands to lose sales, she will abide by the new closing time.

“Mi ago lose, but we just haffi go wid wah dem seh,” the vendor said, as she packed up her belongings, consisting mainly of haberdashery items.

Vendors who sell haberdashery items were allowed to leave their wares covered on their stalls, if they owned a stall, as they were told that the sanitation would be concentrated on the market floor and would not affect their wares on the stalls.

Those who peddle food items, however, were required to remove their goods from the market.

They complained that moving their goods would be an additional expense that they did not budget for, pointing out that they would also be losing revenue for the days of the closure.

Rosalee Wood