President Akufo-Addo
President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to make a decision on the reopening of schools in the country after a Cabinet meeting slated for December 30, 2020.
His decision will be based on relevant information gleaned from various briefings as well as critical lessons from the temporary school reopening initiatives for final year students, both in the secondary and tertiary institutions, months ago.
Speaking at a media encounter yesterday, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said that the President is still gathering reports and scenarios on the outcome, out of which a decision will be made.
The move is to ensure that the school environment does not become a haven for the spread of the disease.
“My understanding is that the President, working with the Cabinet, would have arrived at a decision on the question of school reopening, and we will have an opportunity to announce same to the Republic of Ghana, depending on where that decision goes,” he said.
“We know that parents are anxious, but schools have to be reopened in a responsible and careful manner so that they don’t become places of cross-infection for our kids,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah added.
He further told journalists that the COVID-19 Taskforce would work throughout the Christmas period and New Year to enable them appropriately brief the President.
Self-responsibility
On the issue of policing social centres during the yuletide, the Information Minister noted that it is high time the public shifted from the idea, “if you don’t police us, we’ll do the wrong thing.”
He said it is the responsibility of everyone to protect themselves and one another in these times.
“We have a personal responsibility to ensure that if we have been advised by the health experts that these are high risk areas, protocols for protection have not been adequately provided for in these places; therefore they remain closed, do not attend to them; you owe it to yourself not to patronise these places as a first step. Persons who operate such places have a responsibility to ensure that once this is the advice given, we comply,” he pointed out.
“The first layer of responsibility is on you and I, that if these places are proscribed, we do not patronise them, and if you have such facilities, you do no operate them, and thirdly, the security agencies see to this piece of legislation (the Imposition of Restrictions Act) are expected to act accordingly,” he added.
International travels
Responding to whether the government will put a hold on international arrivals into the country, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said that two layers of prevention have been put in place to deal with any potential influx of carriers.
This way, the government does not have to resort to airport or border closure measures that some countries have resorted to.
“In Ghana, we have a two-tier system; first, before you are allowed to emplane to Ghana, you have tested negative for COVID-19, through PCR testing that is not more than 72hours old. In addition to that, when you arrive in the Republic, you will have to go through an antigen test, which will give us results within 15-30 minutes. It is only when you have tested negative that second time, that is when you’ll be allowed into the general population,” the Information Minister explained.
He further said that “all cards remain on the table, but Ghana has two layers of prevention for international traveling. We will continue to observe, and if need be that some changes need to take place, we will do so accordingly.”
Ghana’s status
The Director-General, Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, disclosed that, currently, Ghana has recorded 54,043 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively, with 52,777 recoveries/ discharged, representing 97.7 per cent recovery rate.
He said as of December 19, 2020, there were 933 active cases and 333 deaths, with 0.62 per cent fatality rate, which is far below the global rate of 2.25 per cent.
Dr Kuma Aboagye also said that a total 103,720 persons have been tested at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), out of which 556 positive cases have been recorded, with 384 people discharged, while 172 make up the number of active cases.
He said the current situation at KIA is that there have been no deaths, adding that 335 contacts have also been followed up.
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