Coronavirus: Market women schooled on proper hand washing

Market queens from Ashaiman, Tema-West, Tema Metro and Kpone-Katamanso have been educated on proper and effective hand washing as a way of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The participating market queens are to also educate the traders in their markets to observe good and proper hand washing.

The exercise which was held at the forecourt of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) was led by the chief executive officers of the Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies together with the Tema Metro Health Directorate and Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson, Minister of Special Development Initiative.

Madam Koomson said to control the deadly disease, proper hand washing must be practiced in addition to other good personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness.

She indicated that as part of government’s preventive measures, the market queens were to receive veronica buckets, liquid soap, tissues and hand sanitizer to be positioned at vantage places in the market for the use of traders and the public.

She encouraged the public to religiously observe the acceptable health measures in COVID-19 prevention, reminding them to cover mouth with tissue when sneezing and coughing and discard immediately into a bin, adding that even though our culture embraced togetherness, people must endeavour to keep away from each other at least two meters apart and avoid handshaking and hugging.

The Minister also urged all and sundry to frequently wash their hands with soap under running water in addition to drinking warm water laced with lemon and ginger in the mornings to buid the immune system adding that cold foods should be minimized.

She said everyone must have a sanitizer or soap to either sanitize or wash hands respectively, every 20 minutes.

Madam Koomson implored the public to encourage their relatives who returned home from abroad to observe the mandatory two week self-quarantine, stressing that those who refused to do that must be reported to health officials or the Assemblies.

Dr. Esther Priscilla Biamah Danquah, Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Director of Health Services, advised the market women against putting money on their bodies after selling to avoid coming into contact with the virus and therefore urged them to sanitize or wash their hands after transactions.

She also asked them to eat healthy foods especially, vegetables and fruits to boost their immune system, saying food must be consumed warm.

She asked parents to make a conscious effort to bathe when they returned home from town before touching their children.