Elation was the reaction that met the announcement of the 3-week lockdown in Accra by the president.
Many took to the streets to express excitement after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed the nation on April 19, 2020, to lift the ban that had restricted movements and stifled businesses.
Akufo-Addo in his 7th address noted that the partial lockdown imposed on the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Areas as well as Kasoa and Tema has been lifted effective Monday, April 20.
According to the president, the decision was influenced by several factors including Ghana’s ability to undertake aggressive contact tracing, an enhanced capacity to test, expansion of the number of treatment and isolation centres as well as the impact of the virus on the poor and vulnerable in the affected areas.
He said, “Fellow Ghanaians, in view of our ability to undertake aggressive contact tracing of infected persons, the enhancement of our capacity to test, the expansion in the numbers of our treatment and isolation centres, our better understanding of the dynamism of the virus, the ramping up of our domestic capacity to produce our own personal protective equipment, sanitisers and medicines, the modest successes chalked at containing the spread of the virus in Accra and Kumasi, and the severe impact on the poor and vulnerable, I have taken the decision to lift the three (3) week old restriction on movements in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa, and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and its contiguous districts, with effect from 1am on Monday, 20th April. In effect, tomorrow will see the partial lockdown in Accra and Kumasi being lifted.”
Following the announcement, scores of people took to the streets obviously excited about the move while heaping praises on the president for a ‘good move’; violating the social distancing rule.
Meanwhile, some have questioned the decision by the president stating that it was prudent as the country is currently faced with over 1000 cases.
A member of the NDC COVID-19 Technical Team, Dr. Prosper Akanbong, says the decision by the President to lift the partial lockdown was not a prudent one.
Dr Akanbong was of the view that there should have been a mass testing exercise instead of the lockdown being lifted to indicate a truer reflection and get a grip of the novel Coronavirus.
“Lifting the lockdown now is not particularly a good decision. Our cases are going up and we haven't really traced secondary and tertiary contacts. There should have been mass testing instead of the lockdown being lifted. That way a truer reflection of the current situation would have been provided,” he said in an interview on Citi Breakfast Show.
