Fancy Bazar, a prime business hub of the Northeast, wore a deserted look here on Thursday following the detection of at least 16 Covid cases from the area. The first case was detected on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday.

The market, which serves as the prime transit point for distribution of essential supplies and food stocks for the region, remained shut as panic spread in the area.

On Wednesday, the Kamrup Chamber of Commerce had also requested the trading fraternity in the area to shut down their shops and offices for the next three days and remain under home quarantine.

“On Tuesday, there was only one positive case, and, within 24 hours, there were 15 more. It’s scary as it’s a crowded area and, on many occasions, social distancing norms were also not followed,” said Nitin Das, a trader in the area.

Earlier too, pictures of large numbers of people at vegetable markets and other places in Fancy Bazar had gone viral, forcing the administration to take strict action.

After the detection of 15 cases, all direct contacts of the migrant labourer who had tested positive on Tuesday, the Kamrup (metro) district administration declared four more city areas — Kumarpara, Santipur (Pubali Road), Fatasil GS Colony and Railway Colony of Panbazar — containment zones. With these, the city has now has nine containment zones. The other containment zones include three hostels of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, where two doctors tested positive earlier, the staff colony of B. Borooah Cancer Institute and Amiyo Nagar in Chandmari.

Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state health department has already collected swab samples of over 300 contacts of the fresh cases. The results were awaited.

“Since people live in the areas densely, we have already taken some of them to hospitals, even before the test results are out, as a preventive measure,” he said.

Many suspected persons were living in dormitories and using the same toilet and other facilities.

Over 1,500 labourers are employed by about 800 shops/business establishments in the area.

“The state government is collecting the contact details of those who visited the market place last week with the help of mobile telecommunication towers, on the lines of the contact-tracing process applied in the Nizamuddin incident of Delhi,” Sarma said during his visit to the containment zone in the area.

The source of infection in the area is yet to be traced. It’s suspected that the virus might have reached the area through a truck driver.

Truck drivers are moving across states to deliver essentials. They mostly do undergo screening.

The Fancy Bazar shutdown, however, may not affect supply of essentials as most godowns are located outside the market area.

Zubeen tests negative

Singer Zubeen Garg, his wife and two others tested negative on Thursday. All of them had reached the city on Tuesday night after a five-day journey in a sleeper bus from Mumbai.

Since then, they had been quarantined in a star hotel in the city.

On Thursday, Sarma said all of them had cleared the first test and would be allowed to go home, where they will be under quarantine for 14 days.

Zubeen had gone to Mumbai in March, before the lockdown, for treatment after he fell unconscious during an event at a club here. Though he was discharged after recovery from the Mumbai hospital he was admitted to, he had got stuck there because of the lockdown. The four had started their journey from Mumbai on May 8.