Seventy five major markets across the 18 municipalities and districts in the Volta Region have been disinfected; taming bacteria and viruses that could transmit any form of infections to market users in the region.
The exercise which was part of a national exercise ordered by President Akufo-Addo, also covered lorry parks, shops, stores, restaurants, chop bars and all businesses close to the targeted markets.
To this end all markets and adjoining businesses in the region remained closed on Saturday, April 4, 2020 to ensure the success of the exercise.
In Ho, the Volta Regional capital, the exercise scheduled to start at 5am started at about 7 am after some preliminary resource mobilisation.
The Exercise which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development brought together a combined personnel of about 4000 drawn from National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Zoomlion Ghana and coordinated by the National COVID-19 Emergency Control team.
A delegation from the Regional Security Council and Health Directorate led by Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa inspected the exercise in some municipalities and districts.
Speaking to journalists in Ho, the Minister commended the level of enthusiasm of the personnel on the ground and commitment to duty.
He also commended residents for the strict compliance to the directive to keep shops and businesses closed.
He said, “I’m highly impressed by the level of compliance, there is not a single soul in the market. Even the shops around the market here; the compliance rate is quite high so we appreciate the level of cooperation that we enjoyed from the people, it shows that we’re engaging the stakeholders and they are also committed to the fight against this COVID-19 epidemic.”
Dr. Letsa further stated that, the virus is a threat to development and that the government is committed to combating it out of the country. “It’s a threat to our survival and everybody is committed to supporting His Excellency the President to achieve the purpose of protecting Ghanaians.”
Speaking on illegal entry from the neighbouring Togo through the Volta region, the Minister indicated that the Regional Security Council has birthed some critical measures to make sure no one come into the country illegally especially through the unapproved routes.
From Fred Duodu, Ho