Fifty fishmongers who refused to heed directives for social distancing to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Tema Canoe Basin fish market have been suspended indefinitely.
This means they would only be allowed to operate after the virus has subdued.
Naa Korkor Abo, Queen mother of Tema Canoe Basin, disclosed this to the Ghanaian Times here yesterday in an interview during a clean-up exercise.
She said fishmongers, one of the privileged few allowed to work during the lockdown in the Tema Metropolis, needed to observe hygiene protocols to prevent the spread of the virus in order not to betray the trust the President had reposed in them.
Naa Abo said the suspension was to signal to the traders that the leadership was serious to stamp out the virus, because allowing it to spread would be disastrous and more costly for the country to deal with.
The Queen mother said the traders had been encouraged to go home as soon as they sold their fish stock.
She thanked the Tema Metropolitan Public Health Emergency Committee for the sensitisation they were doing about the disease in the area and the hand washing items they donated to the market.
Naa Abo, however, appealed to corporate bodies and NGOs to donate more hygiene items to meet the demand of their numbers.
She made a case for the aged and vulnerable residents of Tema New Town to be considered in the distribution of relief items for the poor and needy as part of interventions to deal with Coronavirus.
Source:Â ghanaiantimes.com.gh