This study observed hand hygiene and safety behaviours of shoppers and shop keepers with respect to COVID-19 safety protocols in shopping centres in Wa, a business centre in North-western Ghana. Based on the theory of planned behaviour, the behaviours of 751 customers of 50 shops with handwashing facilities were observed from April to June 2020. It was observed that adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols at shopping centres was very poor. Although the shops observed provided handwashing facilities, 91.3% of the customers did not practise handwashing before entering the shops. Also, 84.2% of them did not wear mouth-and-nose masks during shopping. Similarly, for 78% of the shops observed, no shop attendant wore a mask. Despite the provision of handwashing facilities and widespread advocacy to minimise COVID-19 infections, the citizenry, especially the youth, demonstrated a poor attitude towards safety measures. Non-adherence to COVID-19 protocols was higher in shops where there was no pressure to conform to the protocols. The findings, amidst the increasing number of infections, suggest that attitude and perceived behavioural control are critical to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and, as such, could be good entry points for behavioural interventions.

这项研究观察了位于加纳西北部商业中心Wa的购物中心中购物者和商店老板关于COVID-19安全协议的手卫生和安全行为。根据计划的行为理论，从2020年4月至2020年6月，观察了50家设有洗手设施的商店的751位顾客的行为。据观察，购物中心对COVID-19安全规程的遵守情况非常差。尽管观察到的商店提供洗手设施，但仍有91.3％的顾客在进入商店之前没有洗手。此外，其中84.2％的人在购物期间没有戴口罩和鼻子套。同样，在观察到的78％的商店中，没有商店服务员戴着口罩。尽管提供了洗手设施并广泛倡导将COVID-19感染降至最低，但公民，特别是年轻人，对安全措施态度不佳。在没有压力遵守该协议的商店中，对COVID-19协议的不遵守率更高。在感染数量不断增加的情况下，研究结果表明，态度和可感知的行为控制对于抵抗COVID-19大流行至关重要，因此，可能是行为干预的良好切入点。