Mysore/Mysuru: Mysureans love mutton and this was proved on Sunday (Mar. 29) as despite lockdown, people queued up in front of very few mutton shops that were open to get their share of the red meat. 

Serpentine queues were witnessed in front of meat stalls at K.G. Koppal, Hootagalli, Vontikoppal, Paduvarahalli, Devaraja Mohalla and N.R. Mohalla. As it is the fifth day of nationwide lockdown, district administration and the Police struggled to implement social distancing in front of the mutton shops. 

Also, it is a Sunday and normally people stay at homes to savour juicy mutton dishes. Now that there is a lockdown, people who are forced to stay put at homes wanted to spice-up their tongues with mutton delicacies. And the mutton stocks vanished from the shelves in no time and by noon, the shops downed the shutters with mutton merchants taking away pocketful of currency notes. 

The Mysuru City Corporation issued orders to sell mutton at Rs. 550 per kilogram, meat shops were selling at Rs. 700. That too, customers had to take whatever the butcher gives them. No questions asked. Whatever was bundled into the polythene covers, was meekly taken away by meat lovers to satiate their craving.

Knowing that several villages around Mysuru will butcher sheep and lamb as it is a Sunday, city denizens rushed to places like Chikkegowdanakoppalu, Nagawala, Bommenahalli, Chikka Huilalu and surrounding areas to get fresh meat. Here too the price was Rs.700 per kilo. “At least here, we can get good meat unlike in city we are forced to take whatever the butcher gives,” Ramakrishna, a buyer told Star of Mysore. 

Coronavirus does not spread through chicken, mutton, seafood

There is no scientific evidence to show that Coronavirus spreads through eating chicken, mutton and seafood, FSSAI chief G.S.G. Ayyangar said in New Delhi and asserted that the virus would not survive in higher temperature.

“It is basically an animal virus. Let us leave it to scientists to figure out how it has been transmitted…however, ours is a tropical country and once the temperature crosses 35-36 degrees Celsius, no virus will survive. “Let us pray to God that winter ends and temperature rises,” he said.

Amid apprehensions that the infection could spread through eating chicken, mutton and seafood, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO said there is a misconception about it. “There is a misconception that coronavirus will spread through chicken, mutton and seafood. There is nothing like that. It is scientifically not proven.
“I am a scientist, I will not buy this argument,” Ayyangar told reporters here.

Ayyangar, who was earlier with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said it is a matter of time that vaccine for coronavirus will be developed as India has a good track of handling viruses. “Whether it is Ebola virus or Avian Influenza, we have handled them very well. It is a matter of time. We have to take precaution. We have to be on our toes,” he said.