Private Hostel Operators hosting students of Koforidua Technical University (KTU) and food vendors operating around the University have been urged to observe all safety protocols slated to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or face closure of their facilities for failure to do so.

According to the Pro Vice Chancellor of the KTU, Professor John Owusu, final year students have returned to continue their programme hence it would be necessary that hostel operators and food vendors ensured that they observed all safety protocols to avoid students who patronize their services from getting infected with the coronavirus.

“We have made them aware that if they do not adhere to the safety protocols to ensure the containment of the coronavirus and any student gets infected then their facilities would be closed down,” he added.

Professor Owusu made these statements during a training programme organised by the University’s COVID-19 Response team for private hostel operators and food vendors to train them on the safety protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Pro Vice Chancellor reiterated the need to organise the programme to enable the University’s COVID-19 response team to interact with them to remind them of the safety protocols and impress upon them to adhere to them.

“We hope that this interaction would yield positive results and cause them to adhere to safety protocols like regular and proper handwashing, observe social distancing in their various rooms by reducing the number of students who sleep in the rooms and also practise all other protocols so that no student get infected.”

“We also urged the hostel operators to get thermometer guns to check temperatures of students regularly, he added.

“The hostels are a source of income to these operators and we hope they would adhere to the safety protocols to avoid closure so that they do not lose their daily source of income. Same goes to the food vendors,” he pointed out.

For food vendors, he warned that anyone found not to observe the safety protocols would be barred from selling to the students.

Professor Owusu revealed that the COVID-19 Response team would inspect the hostels and food vendors from time-to-time to ensure that they adhere to the protocols.

For his part, the Manager of Elite Hostels, Daniel Amoako, one of the hostel and beneficiary of the programme was glad stating that the training was in the right direction.

He stated the need to ensure safety first to prevent the spread of COVID-19 assuring that he would do his best to adhere to complement what government was doing.

A food vendor, was also grateful to KTU COVID-19 Team and urged them to inspect activities of the food vendors to ensure that they constantly adhere to the safety protocols slated by government.

From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua