Sales in the capital's shopping malls have fallen drastically over the last few days as panic over the pandemic gripped city residents.
A visit to the city super markets revealed that shoppers' turnout came down significantly in most of the markets in the last few days.
According to traders, people have limited movement fearing the novel coronavirus infection.
Crowd on city roads, public transport, office hubs and other places was lower than the usual.
Talking to the FE, traders at the Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, New Elephant Road, New Market and Gausia said their overall sales have dropped drastically for the last few days.
Shakil Ahmed, a salesman of Grameen UNIQLO, a Japanese casual clothing brand, at Basundhara City Shopping Mall in the city, said sales have slumped about 90 per cent in last few days following the COVID-19 outbreak.
He has been able to sell only a shirt and a T-shirt until lunch break.
Shakil and his co-workers are passing idle time as customers were hardly visiting their outlet.
Ahmed sells at least Tk 10,000 in normal days until lunch hour a day, but only two customers visited the outlet and did not buy anything, he noted.
His colleagues also feel insecure while discharging their job as panic heightened among the people, he added.
Rafiul Islam, a manger of Oxygen, a casual clothing brand at Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, said he sold only Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 in the last three days, compared with Tk 10,000 earlier.
It is disappointing that only two customers visited his outlet from the morning to lunch hour on Thursday, Mr Islam said.
Employees are asking for leave as panic is mounting day by day, he added.
Maruf, an employee of Porda Bitan at New Elephant Road, said his outlet is selling different types of curtain and upholstery fabrics, car seat cover, bed cover foam, bed foam, pillow cover, all types of rail fittings, palmatee, wooden box and stretching of curtain and palmatee.
He sold only Tk 1,000 on the day, which is normally Tk 20,000.
Maruf expressed his concern that sales would hit the floor in the coming days as a good number of city dwellers are leaving fearing the viral infection.
Shafiqur Rahman, a proprietor of Arzuda Fancy Store & Baby Collection at New Market, said he is mainly selling cosmetics, baby and toy items.
The customers are not coming to the market, resulting in lower sales of the products during the last three to four days, he said.
He sold products worth Tk 5,000 during the last week, which is Tk 0.1 million in normal weeks.
In the transport sector, the number of passengers travelling on public buses fell as scary commuters were avoiding such vehicles as a precautionary measure.
The closure of educational institutions is, in part, causing the lower movement of people.
Many city dwellers have already left or are leaving the capital for their village homes, having frightened with the rising cases of virus in Dhaka, according to private bus operators.
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