Ghana records 1,032 COVID-19 cases — 10 days after lifting lockdown

Ghana has recorded more than 1,000 additional cases of COVID-19 since the country lifted its lockdown.

Last week, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo lifted a three-week lockdown on the basis of “improved coronavirus testing”.

The Ghanaian president had said non-essential businesses in Accra and Kumasi could reopen but under guidelines of social distancing.

He said Ghanaians should make use of face masks in public places.

“In view of our ability to undertake aggressive contact 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 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 of the poor and vulnerable, I have taken the decision to lift the three-week-old restriction on movements in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa, and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and the contiguous districts, with effect from 1am on Monday, 20th April,” he had said.

As of April 19 when the lockdown was lifted, the country had recorded 1,042 cases, and 99 recoveries.

COVID-19 UPDATE

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Visit https://t.co/0VobEdItdL for the details pic.twitter.com/ZpHbWIjkxG

— Ministry of Health, Ghana (@mohgovgh) April 19, 2020

However, figures from the Ghana’s ministry of health on Thursday showed that the country currently has 2,074 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of which 212 recoveries and 17 deaths have been recorded.

COVID-19 UPDATE

Visit https://t.co/0VobEdItdL for the details. pic.twitter.com/jrDgezUJp2

— Ministry of Health, Ghana (@mohgovgh) April 30, 2020

This implies an increase of 1,032 cases since the lockdown was lifted.

Ghana is the first country in the West African region to lift the restriction on movement.

Similarly, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari had announced the partial reopening of the country’s economy after five weeks of lockdown.

A nationwide curfew is expected to commence on May 4, while a ban on school activities and religious gatherings will remain.