Covid-19: Gov’t Directs Security Agencies To Clamp Down On Unmasked Ghanaians

As the global resurgence of coronavirus infections begin to replicate locally, the Akufo-Addo government which had gone to sleep over the dangers of the disease has been jolted into another kneejerk response, slapping tight mask-wearing protocols on Ghanaians.

The government is directing the security agencies to clamp down on members of the public who do not wear masks when out and about.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, relayed a clarion directive to the Police, the soldiers and other security agencies today at a press conference.

“We will reiterate a call to the security agencies and to the managers, particularly of enclosed places, to ensure that compliance with the wearing of masks at least, is enforced. All of us as citizens have the responsibility of ensuring that the other parts of it [like washing of hands and using a sanitizer] are taken into consideration,” he said.

A total of 320 Ghanaians have perished from Covid-19 so far. However, while the virus was still very active in May and doctors were begging for restrictions to be intensified, President Akufo-Addo took a political decision to ease restrictions which ultimately kicked-off massive political campaigning.

Since then, the public has mostly become numb to the need to wear masks and adhere to other very important restrictions, leading to a new spike in infections.

“The number of new cases recorded has literally doubled in the month of October. If you compare that with the mask-wearing data…the observation is that this spike at the end of October, [which the data shows is mostly concentrated in the Greater Accra Region] is grossly as a result of non-compliance with the preventive protocol of wearing the mask,” according to Dr. Patrick Kumah Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye also reports that research shows the majority of Ghanaians have abandoned the covid-19 safety mask.

“The survey reveals that those wearing masks correctly moved from 44% to 10%, but in some areas, it was as low as 5%. We have also seen that people who are not wearing masks at all had moved all the way to 72%. And then people who were wearing masks but not wearing them correctly had declined, which means people have learnt how to wear the mask”.

Meanwhile, Oppong Nkrumah has jumped to the defense of politicians, saying they are not to blame for the new upsurge in coronavirus infections.