Sales of PPE decline in Takoradi despite rising cases of COVID-19

Traders of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like nosemasks, face shield and COVID-19 safety items like alcohol-based sanitizers and liquid soap at the Takoradi Central Business District of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have bemoaned the decline their sales.

According to them, even though the prices of such items dropped significantly, people did not find the need to patronise them under the pretext that the coronavirus has vanished in the nation in particular, the Western Region.

One of the traders; Maame Yaaba told the GNA that smaller bottles of the hand sanitizer which hitherto were sold at GHC 10.00 was now GHC 3.00 while the bigger bottles sold at GHC 30.00 was now GHC 12.00.

“Even those times when it was so expensive, people were rushing to buy them, but now that the prices are down people no longer buy the products”, she lamented.

She therefore urged members of the public to continue practiaing all the COVID-19 protocols.

The GNA observed that trading activities were normal at the various marketplaces, without regard to the COVID-19 safety protocols whereas political campaigns were breeding grounds for flouting the protocols.

Face shields were once only used in a small number of medical procedures, but their demand skyrocketed at an estimated 312 per cent growth rate in 2020 due to face mask shortages related to COVID-19, according to The Freedonia Group.

After the initial boom for the items, the demand for them dropped significantly with other products like vitamin C.
Against this background, Reverend Sister Comfort Arthur, Health Promotion Officer at the Holy Child Catholic Hospital called on the public not to ignore the COVID-19 safety protocols like hand washing with soap under running water, wearing of nose mask, rubbing of alcohol-based sanitizers on the palm and keeping to social distancing.

She said Ghana Health Service (GHS) had announced a surge in Ghana’s COVID-19 active cases which now stood at 566 after 64 new infections were reported on October 27.

According to the latest update on the Ghana Health Service’s website, Ghana has since March recorded 48,055 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus disease with 47,169 recoveries/discharges.

The Service also said some 320 deaths were recorded, with regional breakdown as: Greater Accra Region (25,071), Ashanti Region (11,008), Western Region (2,978), Eastern Region (2,426), Central Region (1,931) and Bono East Region (785).

The rest are; Volta Region (682), Western North Region (651), Bono Region (550), Northern Region (547), Ahafo Region (528), Upper East Region (358), Oti Region (242), Upper West Region (90), Savannah Region (62) and North East Region (19).