The CEO of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) says they are employing a number of measures to intensify public education in the markets to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah said the Assembly was using Information Service vans to educate those in the market and nearby towns on prevention methods and symptoms of coronavirus.

“Last week we provided three vans with public address systems on it. By Monday we’ll increase it to six, and we’ll be blaring morning afternoon evening.

“Aside from the markets, we have the dormitory towns; Bukom, Chorkor, Korle Gonno, Bubuashie, and those areas. So we do dawn broadcast and night broadcast when people may be at home,” he told Daniel Dazie on the Super Morning Show, Friday.

According to the Mayor, as part of measures to adhere to the restrictions imposed by the President, the number of guests attending marriage ceremonies conducted at the AMA has also been cut down drastically.

“On average, we get 30 marriages a day at AMA, and that alone brings the high volume of traffic to AMA.

 “So the first thing that we also did from Monday is to reduce the number of people that come to marry, not in terms of the number of marriages, but we’ve restricted the number to only the couple and their witnesses. So the two people that are coming to marry and four witnesses,” he explained.

The CEO of Accra also stated that public toilet facilities and eateries among others are being encouraged to get Veronica buckets and hand sanitisers for patrons, and they are regularly checked to make sure they maintain approved hygiene standards.

He added that extra precaution is also being taken at the AMA office to ensure that there is no spread of the virus there.

“Before you enter our office, we also have the infrared thermometer to check your temperature, we have sanitisers on the entire block and everywhere to make sure that people keep sanitising and then we have the buckets,”

On her part, the Greater Accra Markets Queen, Mercy Nii Djan is worried that congestion at the various markets and misconceptions about the pandemic puts traders at greater risks.

She admitted that the practice of social distancing, recommended for preventing the spread of coronavirus, will be impossible to practice in the market as there is no space.

However, she encouraged market women to continue to observe basic hygienic practices like washing hands and using hand sanitisers to prevent the spread of the virus.