The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will address the nation at 8pm tonight on matters pertaining to the management of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
This will be his 23rd national address on the subject since Ghana recorded its first two cases in March 2020.
The last time President Akufo-Addo delivered such an address, the country had a little over 3,000 active cases, however, the country currently has close to 5,000 active cases per the last update by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Sunday January 31, 2021, with statistics as of 27th January, 2021.
There are currently growing calls for the re-imposition of restrictions by the government to stop the spread of the disease which has grown exponentially since the beginning of 2021.
President Akufo-Addo in his last address said the government may be forced to reintroduce the restrictions including a lockdown if Ghana’s COVID-19 cases continues to soar.
He said, although the government is against the idea of a lockdown due to its negative impact on the economy, it might resort to that if the trend continues.
“We do not want to go back to the days of partial lockdowns which had a negative impact on our economy and way of life. But should that become necessary, and should the number of active cases continue to increase at the current rate, I will have no option other than to reimpose these restrictions because it is better to be safe than to be sorry. So together, let us all ensure that we respect the protocols,” the President said in his 22nd update on the government’s enhanced responsive measures against the outbreak,” he said.
The country is currently seeing an average of 600 new cases every day with health experts warning of a possible collapse of the country’s healthcare system should the trend continue.
It is unclear if the President would in today’s address, reintroduce some of the lifted restrictions including the ban on public gatherings and the closure of schools.
Ban public gatherings or we put down our tools
Meanwhile, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has warned that doctors may be forced to lay down their tools if the government fails to act quickly to slow the spread of the disease and things get out of hand.