Markets: Necessary but a weak link in coronavirus fight

Traders go on with business as usual as at the Kangemi open-air market along Waiyaki way, Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina/Standard]

From a distance, Kangemi market looks like it exists in a different time. A time before the coronavirus pandemic broke out and forced the world to radically change the way it operates and make wearing masks a necessity and hand-washing and social distancing critical.

A stark contrast to the environment around it, the market along Waiyaki Way is teeming with buyers weaving through the elaborate displays of vegetables and fruits laid out by sellers. A few of the buyers have masks, and the sellers are even fewer.