Ghana is likely to announce a lockdown in a bid to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it will be done in phases, Dailymailgh.com can reveal.
Confidential documents in possession of Dailymailgh.com reveal that the first phase of the lockdown, which is yet to be determined by the presidency, will affect four areas – Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Obuasi.
“It is anticipated that a partial to full lockdown of some parts of the country will be executed in a bid to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. It is further anticipated that four cities namely; Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Obuasi will be amongst the first batch of cities to be locked down,” the confidential police document stated.
Dailymailgh.com can also reveal that a Joint Internal Security Operations will be announced to “enforce the lockdown.” It will be made up of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Immigration Service and the Bureau of National Investigation.
The security document indicates that road blocks will be mounted at vantage places while personnel will be stationed at strategic locations to check movement of people and shop operators.
All police commanders have been briefed to be on standby in the event of a lockdown order.
136 cases so far
The Ghana Health Service said as at the morning of 26 March 2020, a total of 54 Covid-19 cases including three deaths have been confirmed from the regular surveillance systems.
This brings the total number of cases to 132.
All the three cases that unfortunately succumbed to the disease were aged and had underlying chronic medical conditions. All the other 51 cases are well; fourteen (14) are being managed at home and the rest are responding well to treatment on admission in isolation. They are awaiting their test results and will be discharged when the results are negative.
The great majority of the confirmed cases are Ghanaians, who returned home from affected countries. Seven are of other nationals namely: Norway, Lebanon, China, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (UK). The number of confirmed cases among travelers under mandatory quarantine who have been tested is 78.
In respect of contact tracing, a total of 970 contacts have been identified and are being tracked. Out of these, 204 have completed the 14 days mandatory follow up.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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