Following the pressure mounted by the people affected by the partial lockdown in Accra, Kumasi and Kasoa in the Central Region three weeks ago and the poor distribution of food items, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has lifted the restriction order.
The lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 by the president.
In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, President Nana Addo said although the Covid-19 cases stood at 1,042, government has put in place stringent measures to control the spread of the disease.
“Lifting the restrictions does not mean we are letting our guards down,” he said, adding that the security services and health workers are on standby to identify, impose curfew, test and treat affected persons should there be an outburst in case in any community in the country.
According to President Nana Addo, government will monitor hotspots in the capital and lockdown such communities should there be a sudden outburst of the disease in those communities.
Explaining further, he said that the three-week lockdown had given government the opportunity to contain the spread of the virus, scale up tracing of persons, who had come into contact with infected persons, test them for the virus and quarantine those who tested positive for treatment.
He announced that the country has so far tested 68,591 people with 67,549 that is 98.5% testing negative, adding that 90 persons have recovered and discharged while 930 persons, who have isolated were responding to treatment.
However, President Nana Addo announced that ban on education facilities, churches, social gathering, public conferences would still be in force and urged the security agencies to be on alert.
Meanwhile, some health experts have expressed the fear that lifting the partial lockdown could lead to escalation of the spread of the disease and warned the general public to be extremely careful by sticking to social distancing and other restrictive measures.
DAP/GIK/APA