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As we all waited for the father of our motherland to address the nation, we all had mixed feelings on what the outcome would be. Anxiety started mounting when the initial 8:00pm we were informed will be the time he’ll address the nation struck on our grandfather’s clock and there was no sign of the President on our screens. The social media further announced that, the President will address the nation at 9:00pm meaning an hour later. We all busied ourselves with other stuff but we all had our ears glued to the TV set so that we don’t miss the national anthem that sounds the arrival of the address. We were all eagerly waiting for this address. This would be the seventh time the President will be addressing the nation on the update of COVID 19 since it popped up on the shores of our motherland. So, one may ask why are you all so anxious to listen? Well, let me enlighten you a little.
H.E Nana Akufo-Addo placed restrictions on the movement of persons in Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi and Kasoa as part of efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Three weeks into the lockdown, people started lamenting on how they have exhausted all they stored up for the lock down and need to go and work to survive. This explains why all Ghanaians are eager to listen to our father to know his decision on whether the lock down will still be in effect or lifted.
On his seventh address to the nation on the emergence of COVID-19 since the first confirmed case, the President said the decision to suspend the lockdown will take effect from Monday, April 20, 2020. President Akufo-Addo addressing the nation in a televised broadcast said government partial lockdown imposed on Accra, Kumasi and parts of the Central Region three weeks ago in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has been lifted.
What a relief what an agony? There were reactions after this broadcast and some didn’t even finish listening to the television as they jubilated while others debated as they debate after a match. One will say, there is no campaign after election what he has to say is what he has said and it is final. For those jubilating, I can hardly pick point for them all what their joy is about but I can guess they are happy because they have been freed from their restrictions of movement to further places. I can also say others are jubilant because they have the opportunity to revive their companies and get money into their coffers again to feed the family. What of our people who aren’t too pleased with this decision? Let us reason with them in order to see why their reactions toward the decision didn’t sink well with them.
In a WhatsApp group I am currently in, one of the participants who might be very good in maths and have a flair for the topic ‘ratio and proportion’ asked this question in the group before the president’s address came to an end; “hey all, so if with 141cases, the president imposed a 2-week lockdown, what will be the number of weeks we are likely to be under lockdown in a situation we have 1042 recorded cases as that the time the President is addressing the nation and he rather lifts the ban?’ I believe this question is on the lips of most Ghanaians as well.
From my little knowledge in mathematics, collecting my data from the contact tracing which we have at hand that stands at eighty-six thousand (86,000), the tested cases are sixty-eight thousand, five hundred and ninety-one (68591). The positive cases gotten from this 68591 is 1042. Expressing this in percentages, 1042/68591*100 gives an answer of 1.5% which is approximately 2%. This shows that the number of positive cases is less and probably that influenced the President’s decision to lift the ban.
Others were of the opinion that, the lock down should have been extended and imposed on the other regions that have recorded new cases in order to curb the spread. Many Ghanaians thought and debated on that without the exception of Dr Prosper Akambong who in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show said the President should have rather extended the lockdown to other areas that have confirmed cases of COVID-19. “Lifting the lockdown is not a good idea because the government is only doing contact tracing and the cases are rising at the time that they are lifting this sanction. And these contact traces are only primary contacts and because of the delay in some of the results that are coming from the primary contacts, the primary contacts have also contacted primary contacts, tertiary contacts and quaternary contacts. So, you just can’t test a few people and think that because your curve appears to be flattening you should lift the restrictions, I don’t think so,” he said. Dr Akambong also indicated that the best option was to embark on a mass testing exercise before lifting the lockdown.
Fellow Ghanaians the ball is in our court to continue to stay safe and heed to the safety precautions laid out to help kick this novel coronavirus from the regions, Ghana, Africa and the world at large.
- Let us avoid overcrowding areas
- Wash your hands with soap regularly under running water
- Use alcohol hand rub
- Do not touch your eyes, mouth or nose (The T-ZONE) with unwashed hands
- Keep distance from people who show signs such as fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing
- Eat properly, drink enough water and have enough rest/sleep.
- In case you have symptoms, call the emergency numbers (+233 55 843 9868 / +233 50 949 7700) or report to the nearest hospital
- Practice social isolation.
