The Government of Ghana has announced a lockdown in parts of the country starting Monday 30th March 2020, to restrict movements of people and contain the soaring numbers of the coronavirus cases.
Delivering his fourth national televised address on the state’s coronavirus approach on Friday evening, 27th March 2020, President Akufo-Addo said the lockdown will restrict movement of people within some urban areas in the country and subject to review after two weeks.
This, he explained, is part of government’s measures to control the spread of the disease in the affected areas, which have been identified as “hot spots.”
The areas to be locked down include Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi, where major numbers of the cases have been recorded.
And this, according to him, will enable contact tracing of people who have come into contact with persons tested positive for the Covid-19.
From the beginning of the week, there have been numerous calls on the President by organizations, political opponents, and individuals for total lockdown of the country to avoid the spread of the Coronavirus.
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The President directed during Friday’s address that people in the affected areas can only go out to get essential items such as food, conduct banking transactions or use the public toilet.
Records on the Ghana Health Service website (www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19) shows that as at Friday 27th March 2020, the country has recorded 137 confirmed cases, 4 deaths and 3 recoveries.
The President revealed that seventy-eight (78) persons put under quarantine have since tested positive for the virus.
He noted that it is these additional confirmations have dramatically increased the total number of cases to 137.
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Confirmed cases of travellers who brought the disease from outside the shores of Ghana, he said, make up 97% of the tests.
“Of the remaining fifty-nine (59) confirmed cases, fifty-three (53) are receiving treatment and are doing well, and they will be discharged should their second test results prove negative.
Fourteen (14) of them are being managed at home in self-isolation,” he stated.
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By: Sammy Agyei/Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
