The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is still hovering around and Ghanaians must wake up to that reality and follow the safety protocols, Deputy North-East Regional Minister, Mr Tahiru Tia Ahmed has said.

According to him, although his region was fortunate not to have recorded any new cases in the past five months, it was risky for the people to let down their guard, warning that it has the tendency to lead to widespread community infection.

Mr Ahmed made the observation in an interaction with journalists at the North-East Regional Coordinating Council (N/E RCC) on Wednesday, 11 November 2020 at Nalerigu during the third phase of a disinfection exercise of markets and other public places in the region.

The operation is a collaboration between the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

It is aimed at keeping such public places safe from COVID-19 and other bacteria for trading and other business transactions to take place.

“This exercise is timely, as it will wake up people to the fact that COVID is there and, therefore, the need for them to follow the safety protocols," Mr Ahmed stressed.

“Following the COVID-19 safety protocols will prevent the region from recording any cases again,” he added.

On what the RCC was doing to prevent any more cases, Mr Ahmed said they have been holding regular meetings with leaders of churches, mosques, queen mothers and other interest groups, where they implore them to educate their members on the need to adhere to the preventive measures.

"That explains why, so far, no case has been recorded again in the region," he said.

The acting North-East Regional Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Adam Nahimu, said the operation will cover over 100 markets in the region.

The third phase of the disinfection exercise, he explained, has become necessary because of the steady rise in COVID infections across the country.

He gave the assurance that his office will do a quality job, adding that places that were not covered in the previous disinfection exercises, would be added.

The exercise started at 11:00 a.m. at the Nalerigu Old Market where shops and sheds were disinfected.

From the Nalerigu Old Market, the Zoomlion disinfection crew moved to the Gambaga, Lanbginsi and Walewale markets.