COVID-19 scare hits sale of chicken in city

New Delhi: Amir sits at his chicken shop in Okhla Vihar waiting for the customers. Its 2 pm and he is yet to make any sale. He occasionally looks at his stock of chicken and the tries to kill boredom with his mobile.

Since the Coronavirus scare hit the city customers have kept chicken at bay. "By this time I didn't have the time to rest in normal days. However, since the Coronavirus news has started making the rounds, the business has dropped drastically. People are avoiding chicken now and only a few with some scientific knowledge turn up to the shops. Even the dropped prices fail to lure customers," Amir said.

Some days back the price of broiler chicken would vary from 180 Rs/Kg to 200 Rs/ kg, since the Coronavirus scare stepped in, the prices have dropped as low as 100 to 120 Rs/kg. Messages have started doing the rounds on WhatsApp linking chicken with Coronavirus adding further to the loss in business to small retailers and wholesalers. However,

experts say that there is no harm in having chicken provided it is cooked properly at high temperature.

Experts believe that there is no scientific evidence connecting Coronavirus with chicken but the rumours led to the steep downfall in the price of the chicken in Delhi and NCR.

If one scroll youtube, there are a number of videos which actually delink Coronavirus with chicken but this has given rise to suspicion more than it actually quelled the rumours. "Why are so many people making videos explaining that there is no relation between Coronavirus and Chicken. This itself scares people. They are full of doubt then," said Rafi, a local resident. Shops in various parts of the city gave a deserted look as people still refrain from having chicken as along as the scare of Coronavirus persists in Delhi-NCR.