RIYADH – All malls and hypermarkets have been directed to prominently display signs requiring shoppers to implement mandatory social distancing to ensure their safety and prevent spread of novel coronavirus. The mayoralties and municipalities have placed signs in malls in yellow and red colors indicating the importance of caution and keeping a safe distance from one another, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said Friday. The measure is meant to prevent the crowding of shoppers and coming too close to one another so as to minimize close interaction. The new signs placed in malls carry some awareness messages to shoppers on how to prevent infection with coronavirus by keeping a safe distance from one another. In addition, malls have opened additional passages and created new space to give more room to shoppers to move freely, away from crowding. Making these precautionary measures compulsory for malls is among the steps being taken by municipalities to prevent the adverse effects of coronavirus and curb its spread. They are also in line with the efforts being exerted by the government authorities to eradicate coronavirus and protect the society from its impact. The municipalities have issued directives to hypermarkets and supermarkets to sterilize all trolleys for carrying goods to make sure that shoppers do not get infected. This is especially so since trolleys are among the most frequent customer touch points, as they are used by many shoppers throughout the day. Earlier, municipalities had issued directives to malls not to allow crowding of shoppers at the entrances but to allow them to enter the hypermarkets and supermarkets, one group after another, to ensure the safety of the citizens and expatriates during their shopping in malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets, supply shops and the like.