The practice of keeping registers at shop entrances to record details of customers for possible contact tracing seems to have lost steam, with several traders finding it difficult to ensure compliance.
With merchants trying to cash in on Onam sales, the sight of visitors entering shops without providing their names, contact numbers, and places of stay has become common in Ernakulam. A major chunk of traders had started maintaining registers after the authorities tightened vigil in the wake of the worsening COVID-19 situation. However, shop owners now cite logistical hurdles and manpower shortage as reasons for failure to ensure compliance.
“We can only hope that customers cooperate with us by entering their contact details properly in the registers. Only a few bother to do so,” said a retailer at Aluva. Traders pointed out that continued monitoring required additional manpower, which was not practical amid the festival season business. “Sales have already been hit by the pandemic crisis, and we cannot deploy people exclusively to ensure maintenance of registers,” said the manager of a bakery outlet at Edappally.
Traders can alert the health authorities in case any customer turns positive. They can also alert others who had visited the shop and suggest necessary follow-up measures, if required.
QR-code-based system soon
Meanwhile, Snehil Kumar Singh, Sub Collector, said the district administration had plans to introduce an online ledger system that would help traders collect details of visitors without using paper and pen. The finer details of the QR-code-based system are being worked out, he added.
It is learnt that the pen-and-paper mode will be available along with the digital system to collect the details of those not having smartphones. The QR-code-based system will be an exact replica of the pen-and-paper mode, with customers requiring to fill in their names, contact numbers, and places of stay.
