The Ministry of Information in its resolve to ensure effectiveness of the lockdown directive given by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is urging all to reach out to the outfit for a clarification on the orders.
The president on Friday evening declared a partial lockdown of Accra, Tema and Kumasi effective 1am on Monday, March 30, 2020 to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease.
Announcing that the country has recorded 137 confirmed cases with 4 deaths, the president said: “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.
“In doing this, we cannot afford to copy blindly, and do all the things some other well-developed countries are doing. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this pandemic. We have a unique situation in our country, and we must take it into account in dealing with the disease, whilst meeting all the six (6) key WHO guidelines on the most effective ways of combating the pandemic. Even though it may be said that the number of our infections is still, relatively, low, if we act now purposefully, we have a chance of preventing an escalation of our numbers.”
Some services, including members of the security agencies assigned lawful duties; Staff of electricity, water, telecommunications, e-commerce and digital service providers; members of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary; production, distribution and marketing of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, medicine, paper and plastic packages; staff of VALCO were however exempted from the restrictions.
According to the ministry, it has received “many requests for clarifications” since the address last night and is set to provide answers accordingly. Persons with concerns in this regard have been asked to register them on social media with the hashtag #AskTheInfoMinistry.
“If you have a specific question that needs clarification, please send to us as a comment on this thread. The Ministry will provide answers at our Sunday briefing. #AskTheInfoMinistry” a post from the ministry stated.
The initiative has seen many throw in their questions.
Here are a few of them
Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah