The Ghana Prisons Service says practising social distancing among inmates in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak will be challenging especially at night.
This is because of the level of congestion in prison cells across the country.
His concerns come in the wake of fears that Ghana’s prisons could be the hardest hit in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.
However, officials say measures are underway for inmates to practice social distancing during the day.
Superintendent Courage Atsem who is Chief Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Prisons Service told Citi News the above measures, coupled with the suspension of all contact visits, are part of efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Social distancing can only be practised within the day. Where they are open and they are able to move about but at night where they are supposed to sleep, their cells are usually congested and that is why our concern is to ensure that we do not record any case.”
“Preventive measures are what we are looking at now. It is important that we put measures in place to ensure that we do not record a case at all and that is why we are putting all these measures in place,” Supt. Atsem said.
Ghana confirmed its seventh case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
The seventh case was confirmed by the Ghana Health Service.
The person is a 35-year-old Ghanaian who returned from France.
Health officials say 350 contacts had been traced to the first six coronavirus cases.
