Fish factory in Tema partially reopens after swell of COVID-19 cases
A fish-processing plant in Tema, Pioneer Food Cannery Limited, where one person is reported to have infected more than 500 people, has announced a partial opening.
The company owned by Thai Union, the world’s top producer of canned tuna, confirmed this to Reuters on Tuesday.
The company, which closed on April 17 after an employee tested positive, re-opened on Monday with a limited number of employees who had been cleared to carry out maintenance and clear backlogs.
“We have decided to remain closed and have been making effort to reopen in phases as workers are cleared to return to work following negative tests. It will run with limited capacity until it is able to return to full operations,” the spokesperson said.
The company also said it had facilitated testing of its employees, but declined to confirm how many of them had tested positive beyond the initial case.
The company further gave the assurance that it was committed to ensuring the safety of its workers in the wake of the deadly pandemic.
President Akufo-Addo, in his ninth address to the nation, said one worker at the fish factory in the coastal city of Tema had infected over 500 other employees with the deadly COVID-19.
The cases at the fish processing plant have pushed Ghana’s COVID-19 cases forward. As of Tuesday, Ghana had reported 5,127 cases with 494 recovered patients and 22 deaths.
Regions with reported cases of COVID-19 are the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Eastern, Western North, Western, Volta, Upper East, Oti, Upper West, Northern, North East and Bono.