The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has warned of an imminent lockdown should the laxity in adhering to safety protocols for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continue.
The Deputy General Secretary of the Association, Dr Titus Bayuo speaking on Morning Starr on Starr FM on Monday said government could be forced to impose stricter restrictions or a lockdown if the cases continue to increase as being witnessed recently.
“My caution to Ghanaians is that by our very actions, we are pushing ourselves towards tougher restrictions (that is, ban on social gatherings or lockdown) and if we get there the political leaders will have no option.”
On this same issue, Dr John Amuasi of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has expressed that there could be a lockdown in two weeks.
He said this during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday monitored by the Ghanaian Times.
Although, he said the country needed no lockdown at the moment, he cautioned with the spate of increase in the number of new cases being recorded, should the citizenry fail to strictly to the preventive measures, there could be a lockdown.
He advised that, “At this point we should start with very extreme measures in mask wearing, hand washing and hand sanitising, observing the social distancing at the work places, churches and gatherings.”
That being said, theoretically, lockdown work. When you restrict people’s movement and contact, it works. Here in Ghana, during the lockdown, there was a reduction in number of cases. If you take a look at the figures, it shot up when the lockdown was lifted,” he added.
He further stated that, “When it comes to this disease, if your desire is to stamp out the disease entirely, there are measures that you would hate, but if you let go, it will spring back because people are tired of being at home, they will be partying and the rate will surely go up again.”
The cautions of another possible lockdown comes against the background of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s 19th address on measures taken by the country against the COVID-19 where he bemoaned the current infection rate in the country.
The President expressed worry over the wanton disregard for the wearing of masks among many Ghanaians, as well as mass crowding without conformance to social distancing.
All these, the President said had contributed to the new infections being recorded in the country in the last few days, and said, sanctions would be meted out against individuals who would jeopardise the lives of others.
“Severe sanctions exist in our laws for persons who want to continue to disregard these protocols, and for those who want to endanger the rest of the population through their actions and negligence,” the President said.
BY FRANCIS NTOW
