OccupyGhana has called on the government to immediately ban all social gatherings which include funerals, parties, church services, night clubs in the country until there is a drastic drop in daily Covid-19 infections in the country.

In a ten-points statement, the Civil Society’s call comes on the back of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases across the country. More than 32 deaths have been recorded in Ghana from COVID-19 related diseases between 1 and 24 January this year as revealed by the Director- General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma- Aboakye.

Currently, 372 persons have succumbed to the Coronavirus disease since Ghana recorded its first case on 12 March 2020. As of the latest count, Ghana has recorded 646 new COVID-19 cases raising the country’s active case count to 3,613 with 62,135 cumulative cases.

“We, therefore, ask the government to immediately ban all social gatherings until a marked drop in new cases is seen. This will include funerals, parties, church services, night clubs etc. In short, any gathering of more than ten people should be banned again.”
OccupyGhana’s Statement.

At a press briefing yesterday, the Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the country may be heading for tighter restrictions and a possible lockdown should the Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

The Civil Society has also called on employers, as a matter of urgency, to think of introducing what they describe as ‘flexitime’. This according to the Group will allow parents who are employees the opportunity to supervise their children’s online classes and report to work later.

“For parents who must go to work, it is time for employers to begin conversations on flexitime, which breaks the day into three 8-hour cycles where parents could stay at home to supervise online classes and then report to work later in the day. We must do whatever it takes to rein in this trend of infections, and it requires us to be creative in how we think and how we do things.”

OccupyGhana urged the media to do more in the area of coronavirus public education as cases continue to spike. OccupyGhana encouraged different electronic media outfits to consistently air educational adverts and for the print media to also print full page adverts in that regard.

“In the general public, there are still many misconceptions about the disease. Re-educating the public about the disease, the myriad ways it can present and its short and long-term effects should be an exercise our media houses can help with. We are inviting electronic media houses to commit to air approved educational advertisements on the pandemic for a minimum cumulative period of one hour in every 24-hour cycle, over the next month. Print media houses may also commit to print one full-page advert three times a week.”