Farmers' market permit holders will be granted a temporary street hawker licence following the ban on open-air markets due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The agriculture ministry said on Saturday the temporary permits would allow farmers who hold a farmers' market permit to sell fruit and vegetable cultivated in holdings that were registered with the Agriculture Directorate. 

The move was intended to ensure a constant fresh fruit and vegetable supply, the ministry said. 

The temporary licences are subject to several conditions, including that the activity must be registered with the Food Safety Commission and that the licence holder may have up to two assistants, as well as a substitute, who must all wear identification badges. 

The stall must not be set up within 100 metres of any other licenced street hawker or commercial premises which have not been closed, and no more than two street hawkers can set up within a circumference of 300 metres. 

Hawkers can only serve one customer at a time and any waiting customers must stand at least one metre away from each other. 

The temporary licences will remain valid until the farmers' markets are allowed to reopen or until street hawking is itself ordered to stop.