Major markets in the Ashanti Region will on Thursday be closed down for a disinfestation exercise to improve sanitary conditions, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, has revealed.
The exercise follows a similar one undertaken in the Greater Accra region on Monday at 120 markets and lorry stations including Mallam Atta, Nima, Maamobi, Jamestown, Makola and Madina.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, she said, the exercise was to improve sanitary conditions in the various markets amidst the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
She said the disinfectant was a chlorine solution, which had been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Ministry, Hajia Mahama noted, would by close of today, release the list of markets to be disinfected in the region.
As was done by the traders, transport operators and food vendors in the Greater Accra Region, she called for co-operation and support to enable a successful exercise in the Ashanti Region.
She noted that with support from personnel from the Ghana Armed Forces, various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and market occupants would engage in regular cleaning and disinfecting of markets to ensure proper hygiene conditions.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, disclosed that currently, a total of 1,030 passengers who arrived in Ghana prior to the closure of the country’s borders were being quarantined.
As of yesterday, 25 of the 118 test results received was positive of COVID-19, increasing the number of Ghana’s cases to 52 and two deaths.
Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, noted that the Ghana Health Service has deployed 98 and 50 officers to trace contacts of infected persons in Accra and Tema and Kumasi respectively.
Another team, he said, was also identifying facilities for quarantine purposes.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS