The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 23rd address to the nation placed a ban on funerals, weddings and concerts as part of efforts to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the 23rd update on measures taken against the virus, he made this announcement, positing that, the nation has a lot of work to do in coming to terms with the disease given the new variants that are being transmitted within the population.
“So, fellow Ghanaians, until further notice, funerals, weddings, concerts, theatrical performances, and parties are banned. Private burials, with no more than twenty-five people can take place with the enforcement of the social distancing, hygiene and mask wearing protocols.
“Beaches, night clubs, cinemas, and pubs continue to be shut. Our borders by land and sea remain closed. Restaurants should provide take-away services, and should, as much as possible, avoid seated services.”
The President further directed all workplaces both public and private to employ a shift-system for workers, in addition to the use of virtual platforms for business or work.
“The analysis continues to tell us that the spread of the virus mostly occurs in indoor, confined spaces with poor ventilation, where people are talking, singing, or shouting without their masks.”
Additionally, he directed that, conferences and workshops must take place with all the appropriate protocols, however, encouraging the use of virtual platforms for such engagements.
Touching on sports, he urged the National Sports Authority and the Ghana Football Association to ensure compliance with the twenty-five percent (25%) capacity rule in the stadia, with spectators respecting the social distancing rule and wearing of masks.
He also entreated the various leaders of religious organisations, that is the churches and mosques to enforce protocols relating to attendance, i.e. the two-hour duration, one-metre social distancing, mask wearing, use of sanitizers, and the presence of veronica buckets, liquid soap, and rolls of tissue paper.
Commenting on the surge in case count and deaths, he disclosed that, as of Friday, 29th January, sixty-four (64) more people had died over the last two weeks, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to four hundred and sixteen (416).
“Our hospitalization rates are increasing, with the number of critically and severely ill persons now at one hundred and seventy-two (172).
“Our hospitals have become full, and we have had to reactivate our isolation centres. Our average daily rates of infection now stand at seven hundred (700), compared to two hundred (200) two weeks ago.
“The total number of active cases has more than doubled, from a little over one thousand, nine hundred (1,900), two weeks ago, to five thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight (5,358) currently.”
H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo added that, the imposition of restrictions on our daily routines helped in reducing the prevalence of the pandemic in the country, and Government has been left with no option but to re-introduce some of these restrictions in order to help save the situation.
The President announced that, efforts are still underway in procuring the COVID-19 vaccine with the first batch set to arrive in March. weddings
“Fellow Ghanaians, in Update No. 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this. Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people.
“Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people. The earliest vaccine will be in the country by March.”
