The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have announced the closure of their head offices in Accra, to ensure the safety of their staff against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This was after some staff of the two state owned institutions tested positive of the coronavirus following a mass testing exercise carried out by management.

About 46 out of the 162 members of staff at the Information Technology (IT) department at the head office of BOST at Dzorwulu in the Ayawaso West Municipality, Accra, representing 28.4 per cent have tested positive for the disease.

A statement issued and signed by company’s Corporate Communications Department said “after the mass testing, a number of the staff tested positive and arrangements are being made for their treatment”.

It said this has necessitated the closure of the head office to the public, adding that contact tracing would be carried out on staff who tested positive to start self isolation immediately.

Furthermore, the statement stated that the head office would be fumigated over the period, to ensure the safety of staff was not compromised when work resumed.

“Management would further like to assure the general public that this arrangement will not negatively impact the operations of the company since all staff have the needed facilities and enhancements to work from home within the period,” it said.

Meanwhile a source told the Ghanaian Times that some of the affected staff were working from home as a control measure.

The COCOBOD on its part, will close down its head office for a fumigation exercise from today, July 8, 2020, to Friday, July 10, 2020.

This is after some of its workers tested positive for COVID-19 during a mass testing exercise.

According to a press release from COCOBOD on Monday, July 6, 2020, the closure “has become necessary due to the mass testing the organisation is currently undertaking which has resulted in some staff members testing positive for COVID-19.”

“All necessary arrangements have been made for the affected staff to receive the necessary medical attention and contact tracing is currently ongoing to enforce quarantine and isolation measures,” the statement added.

The COCOBOD has thus urged all individuals and companies with urgent business to contact its online portal.

COCOBOD was the latest workplace to be hit by significant COVID-19 infections.

The government has noted workplaces as contributing to recent surges in COVID-19 cases.

The BOST on Monday closed down its head office at Dzorwulu after 46 employees tested positive for the virus.

At a fish-processing factory in Tema, one worker was believed to have infected 533 other workers at the facility, contributing to the surge in cases in those areas.

The spread of the disease at the factory garnered international attention as it was the largest number of confirmed cases within a single organisation in Ghana.

In Obuasi, a surge in cases in May was traced to a couple doing business in the central market.

The workplace cases compelled the government to outline safety measures to guide institutions in tackling the spread of the virus at their premises.

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count currently stood at 21,968, at the latest count.

BOST, COCOBOD close offices to protect workers against COVID-19

Source: Ghanaian Times