The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has made the wearing of face masks mandatory, in the wake of a sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana.
He pointed out the Police and law enforcement agencies will enforce this directive through an Executive Instrument.
“With the doctors and scientists telling us that the virus is transmitted from human contact, through talking, singing, coughing and sneezing, which results in sending droplets of the virus from one person to another, residents of these four regions, and, indeed, all Ghanaians, must remember that the wearing of masks is now mandatory.”
“Leaving our homes without a face mask or face covering on is an offence. The Police have been instructed to enforce this directive, which is the subject of an Executive Instrument,” the President said in his address to the nation on Sunday.
Ghana’s COVID-19 case count currently stands at 11,964.
The President therefore entreated Ghanaians to adhere to safety protocols to conquer the virus which has so far claimed 54 lives in Ghana.
“Let me repeat: our survival is in our own hands. If we are lax and inattentive, we will continue to have serious challenges with the virus. If we are mindful and self-disciplined, we have it in us to defeat this pandemic and help return our lives to normalcy.”
“I appeal to each and every one of you for your help in this regard. That is the surest way to realising our collective vision of building a new Ghanaian civilization where the rule of law is not a slogan, but a directive principle of state development; where we deliver social and economic transformation that has a meaningful impact on the lives of all our people.”
The wearing of face masks in public places was initially made mandatory within the Greater Accra Region.
All public and private institutions in the region were also instructed by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to begin a ‘No Face Mask, No Entry’ policy.
There was however no significant penal measures for these directives.
The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly in the Central Region subsequently indicated that it will make the wearing of face masks mandatory.
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