President Nana Akufo-Addo has lifted the lockdown on Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi, an action which was taken to prevent a further spread of coronavirus disease outbreak in Ghana.
On Friday, March 27, 2020 President Nana Akufo-Addo announced a two-week partial lockdown of aforementioned areas of the country.
The decision, according to the President, was taken to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
“Prevailing circumstances mean that stricter measures have to be put in place to contain and halt the spread of the virus within our country, especially in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi, which have been identified by the Ghana Health Service as the ‘hotspots’ of the infections”, the President said at the time.
Subsequently, the lockdown was extended by another seven days.
But in his 7th Covid-19 update to the nation on Sunday, April 19, 2020, President Akuffo-Addo announced that the lockdown will be lifted from 1 am on Monday, April 20.
By this Ghana has become one of the few countries in world to ease restrictions on movement during the pandemic.
Reason for lifting the lockdown
The president said the lifting of the lockdown was “in view of our ability to undertake aggressive contact tracing of infected persons”.
The enhancement of testing capacity, increased local production of PPEs and the impact on the poor and vulnerable, among others, the President said, formed the basis for the review of the decision.
“Lifting these restrictions does not mean we are letting our guard down.”
Public or social gathering, which encapsulate, schooling, funeral services, religious activities and marriage ceremonies still remain banned.
The country’s entry points will also remain closed.
“I am demanding even greater adherence to these measures,” the President admonished.
Ghana’s case count
The President also disclosed that the country coronavirus cases have risen to 1,042.
“Since the first two (2) cases of infections were recorded on our shores, we have, till date, traced some eighty-six thousand (86,000) contacts, out of which we have test results of sixty-eight thousand, five hundred and ninety-one (68,591) contacts. There is, thus, a backlog of some eighteen thousand (18,000) tests whose results are yet to be received.
“The overwhelming majority of these contacts have been established in the last three weeks of the partial lockdown in Accra and Kumasi. Out of this number, one thousand and forty-two (1,042) persons, i.e. 1.5%, have been confirmed as positive, with sixty-seven thousand, five hundred and forty-nine (67,549), i.e. 98.5%, testing negative; ninety-nine (99) persons have recovered and have been discharged; and nine hundred and thirty (930) persons, who have been isolated, are responding to treatment either in their homes or in treatment facilities. These nine hundred and thirty (930) persons, after their treatment, will soon undergo the mandatory two (2) tests to determine if they have also recovered from the virus or otherwise,” he added.
