President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has extended by one more week the lockdown imposed on Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi.
This was by an Executive Instrument (EI) on Thursday and it takes effect from 1:00am Monday, April 13 “subject to review”.
President Akufo-Addo made this known in his sixth nationwide broadcast on coronavirus as he periodically keeps Ghanaians up to speed on government’s measures in these “abnormal” times.
He had announced a lockdown of Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi on Friday, March 27 in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus disease.
He said government’s measures and, by extension, Ghana’s efforts have been “modestly successful”.
“Undoubtedly, the decision taken from Day One to act quickly and decisively, and, impose what may have seemed like harsh restrictions, have now proven to be effective, and have saved a lot of lives.”
The lockdown was primarily to make effective an enhanced testing approach to trace all contacts of Covid-19 patients.
The president said so far, 37,405 contacts have been traced.
Thirty-one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-three (31,933) were traced in Accra while 5,472 were traced in Kumasi.
As of Wednesday, April 8, President Akufo-Addo noted, a total of 14,611 samples of contacts have been tested, out of which 77 tested positive.
‘Whilst the result are encouraging and suggesting a limited number of positives and community spread, we expect to be able to test some 10,000 additional samples in the coming week to give us a clearer picture to enable us take a decision on the way forward.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana