Nationwide disinfection exercise benefits Bolga Municipality

The nationwide disinfection of markets initiative by the Government of Ghana in partnership with waste management experts Zoomlion Ghana Limited(ZGL) supervised by the Ministry Of Local Government And Rural Development(MLGRD) has covered markets and streets of Bolga Municipality.

The Municipal Chief Executive Officer, Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, Aminyuure Joseph Atura has expressed excitement about the initiative as the COVID-19 pandemic cases have seen a spike again in the country.

"This disinfection exercise undertaken by the government of Ghana in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited is doing a lot for the market women in Bolgatang, most of the times when the markets are disinfected, it goes beyond the Coronavirus to also kill germs, pests and other disease-causing agents that are likely to be living in the Market," he said.

He added that the mode of transmission of the coronavirus is tricky, hence, needs comprehensive and aggressive response such as the one being currently undertaken by the government.

"We are all aware that the virus as we know can be contracted through physical contact. Just as people are in the market doing their businesses, people with Covid-19 are also in the market and could easily transmit the virus by living traces of them on surfaces in the market, which makes such as exercise very vital. Anybody who is in the market and doing business could contact the virus so the best thing is that this disinfection exercise is taking place to curb possible situations that are likely to be existing within the market," he said.

He emphasized that it has helped the municipality in the sense that the cases as it stands is zero in the municipality. "The last three cases we recorded earlier has all recovered and have been discharged,” he added.

He was quick to add however that some few samples have been sent for testing and the results are yet to be out, so as it stands the Bolga municipality doesn't have a case.

Commenting on the second wave of the Coronavirus and what the municipality is doing, he noted that initially, the ministry of health used to be at the border between his district and the Talensi District where people were screened when they came into the municipality. But with time, he indicated that it was clear that there were not having serious cases so we stopped.

"Now that we are having the second wave that we are seeing in the country where there are increases in terms of the COVID-19 cases, we will need to redouble our efforts in that direction. So I have held a meeting with my municipal health director and we are thinking of ensuring how best we can do some sampling in terms of taking some temperatures but if you look at this seriously we don't have any serious cases of Covid 19 and myself and my municipal director are making sure we do ensure that people are in their nose masks all the time and ensure that at least we have some amount of social distances and people are frequently using their sanitizers," he emphasized.

Hajia Hawa Ninchema, Municipal Chief Executive Officer of Bawku Central, on her part, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the government and Zoomlion on behalf of the Bawku Central Municipality.

"It has been very helpful to us. It has helped all of us in the municipality. The first and second exercise killed a lot of mammals. Massive cleaning up exercise was held after the disinfection exercise," she said.

On measures taken against the spread of the virus in the area, she hinted that the protocols will continue to be observed by ensuring the wearing of nose mask, using of sanitizers and also the education of community members to create awareness of the Pandemic.

“We will educate the people that the coronavirus pandemic is still in existence. Together with my health officers, we will embark on a sensitization program and also broaden our contact tracing efforts," she notified.

The third phase of the disinfection exercise in the region began on the Saturday 14th November 2020 from the Bolga old market through Paga, Navrongo, and markets in Bawku.