Ghana Eases Restrictions In Phases

President Akufo-Addo on Sunday eased restrictions or ban imposed on public gatherings and some schools and universities by gradation rather than all at once.

"With effect from Friday 5th June we will begin Stage One of the process of easing restrictions," said Mr Akufo-Addo.

This means that final year junior & Senior High schoolers, including university and college students writing their exit exams, shall resume by June 15th.

Also, by Executive Instrument the President has extended the suspension of sporting events, clubs, beaches, cinemas etc.In addition, the country's borders, either by air, or land and sea will remain closed until further notice for human traffic.

Mr Akufo-Addo made the announcement at twilight (10pm GMT) on Sunday 31, May 2020, in what has become his signature time of addressing the nation. The President took time to share information about the fight against the deadly pandemic, and also outlined the decisions he'd taken about the next chapter of the nation's 'common battle' against the virus.

The Sunday's address was the President's tenth (10th) since the last 11 weeks (dating back March 15, 2020) when he first announced the restrictions.

So what informed the decision?
According to the president, a consensus had emerged from consultations that goverment should embark on a strategic, controlled, progressive, safe easing of restrictions to get the lives and economy back to normal.

"As I stated in my May Day address, a month ago, I am now in a position to outline the roadmap for easing safely the restrictions. Ours is going to be a phased approach, involving a selected list of public gatherings, based on their risk profile, socio-economic impact, and, most importantly, our capacity to enforce and to respond, in the event of a flair up in our number of infections," he pointed out.

So, fellow Ghanaians, with effect from Friday, 5th June, we will begin Stage One of the process of easing restrictions. An abridged format for religious services can commence. Twenty-five percent (25%) attendance, with a maximum number of one hundred (100) congregants, can worship at a time in church or at the mosque, with a mandatory one-metre rule of social distancing between congregants. In addition to the mandatory wearing of masks for all persons at all times in churches and mosques, a register of names and contact details of all worshippers and handwashing facilities and sanitisers must be provided, with a maximum duration of one (1) hour for each service."

According to the president religious institutions that are desirous of opening their premises to their members, such as churches, mosques and others, must disinfect, fumigate and put in place the requisite logistics needed to guarantee safe opening and operation. They must work with the designated, regulatory bodies and undertake test runs of the protocols.

"I would appeal to them," he said, "in the case of Christians, on the first Sunday of re-opening, i.e. 7th June, in the case of the Adventists, Saturday, 6th June, and in the case of Muslims, on the first Friday, i.e. Salat Al-Jumu'ah on 5th June, to dedicate their worship to prayers for the nation in these challenging times.

The Minister for Religious Affairs, will, tomorrow, Monday, 1st June, outline, in detail, the specific guidelines for the safe reopening of our churches and mosques."

From Monday, 15th June 2020, the decision has been taken, after engagement with the Teacher Unions, whose co-operation I salute, to re-open schools and universities to allow for final-year junior high, senior high and university students to resume classes ahead of the conduct of their respective exit examinations. Indeed, final year university students are to report to their universities on 15th June; final year senior high school (SHS 3) students, together with SHS 2 Gold Track students, on 22nd June; and final-year junior high school (JHS 3) students on 29th June. JHS 3 classes will comprise a maximum of thirty (30) students; SHS classes a maximum of twenty-five (25) students, and University lectures will take place with half the class sizes.

All final year students of educational and training institutions, which are being managed by Ministries other than the Education Ministry, are to return to school on 15th June to complete their exit examinations."

Precautionary measures
Prior to the opening of schools and universities, the Ministry of Education, and the heads of public and private educational institutions, will fumigate and disinfect their institutions. Each student, teacher, and non-teaching staff will be provided with re-usable face masks by the Ministry of Education. For the avoidance of doubt, all other educational facilities, private and public, for non-final year students, will remain closed. The Minister for Education, in the coming days, will outline, in detail, the specific guidelines for the safe reopening of our schools and universities, he said.

Mr. Akufo-Addo also gave some details as to how private burials and other social activities will be organised. According to him a maximum of one hundred (100) persons, can continue to be performed. Restaurants, providing seated services, can operate under appropriate social distancing arrangements and hygiene protocols. Individual, non-contact sports can go ahead. Conferences, workshops, weddings, and political activities, except rallies, can now take place, but with limited numbers not exceeding one hundred (100) persons present, with the appropriate social distancing and hygiene protocols.

The president didn't leave out traders in market places, work places, public transport, and constitutional and statutory bodies such as the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the National Identification Authority (NIA), whose activities were exempted from the outset from these restrictions. He advised that they must conduct their activities in accordance with social distancing and the necessary hygiene and safety protocols.

"Whilst we step up public education of the protocols on public gatherings, let me also state that regulatory agencies will undertake random checks to ensure conformity with these rules, and the security services will be tasked to enforce them. Should any institution fail to adhere to these directives, its activity will be immediately prohibited, and relevant sanctions applied."

"I've, by Executive Instrument, provided for these new directions, and extended the suspension of the remaining public gatherings, as set out in E.I. 64 of 15th March, until 31st July. In here, I refer to the suspension of sporting events, nightclubs, cinemas, drinking spots, bars, beaches, festivals, funerals, political rallies, and large religious gatherings such as crusades, pilgrimages and conventions," the President declared.

Our border, by air, land and sea, remains closed until further notice for human traffic. However, given that there are Ghana residents stranded abroad, special dispensation is going to be given for their evacuation back to Ghana, where they will be subjected to the mandatory quarantine and safety protocols."

COVID-19
In March 12, 2020, Ghana had her first two confirmed cases both from outside-- one from Europe and the other from North America. And under the able leadership of the government they took timely measures to attack the virus. "We decided that we would, (i) limit and stop the importation of the virus, (ii) contain its spread, (iii) provide adequate care for the sick, (iv) limit the impact of the virus on social and economic life, and (v) use the opportunity afforded by the emergency to expand our domestic capability and deepen our self-reliance," said the president.

How did Ghana respond?
Through robust measures, dedication and sacrifice.
This is how the president explained it.
"To attain these objectives, and respond to the clear evidence that large gatherings provide the most fertile grounds for the spread of the virus, on 15th March, three (3) days later, under the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020, Act 1012, I placed a ban on public gatherings and closed down all schools and universities. On 21st March, I closed all our borders by land, air and sea. Subsequently, on 27th March, I placed restrictions on movement of persons in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Tema, Kasoa, and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and contiguous districts, for a period of three (3) weeks."

Statistics
According to the president, Ghana has done remarkably well with regard to testing.

"As at today, Sunday, 31st May, under these measures, we have conducted two hundred and eighteen thousand, four hundred and twenty-five (218,425) tests; the number of positive cases stands at eight thousand and seventy (8,070); two thousand, nine hundred and forty-seven (2,947) persons have recovered; thirty-six (36) have sadly died; thirteen (13) persons are severely ill, with three (3) critically-ill for which (1) is on a ventilator; and five thousand and eighty-seven are responding to treatment at home, isolation centres and hospitals."

With regard to hospitalisation and death rates, he said there had been, persistently, very low, some of the lowest in Africa and in the world. The Ghanaian people are not dying of the virus in the hundreds and thousands that were earlier anticipated, and that are being seen on a daily basis in some other countries. Indeed, we are witnessing a much milder manifestation of the virus in the country, than was initially feared. And, I dare say, that it is the grace of God, and the measures taken by Government that have produced this result.

Who else could tell the story better?
Mr. Akufo-Addo pat the nation on the back.
"Our ability to trace, test, and treat persons with the virus has improved considerably; we now have a large army of efficient contact tracers; we've expanded the number of testing facilities from two (2) to ten (10) across the country; and we have increased appreciably the number of quarantine, isolation and treatment centres. We've lessened our dependence on foreign imports, and scaled up significantly domestic production and distribution of personal protective equipment to our healthcare workers, evidenced in the provision of four million, four hundred and forty thousand, six hundred and ninety (4,440,690) gloves; three million, five hundred and twenty-four thousand, two hundred and five (3,524,205) nose masks; sixty-two thousand, one hundred and ninety-four (62,194) goggles; one hundred and nine thousand, eight hundred and twenty-nine (109,829) litres of sanitizers; eighty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five (85,995) head covers; eighty-two thousand, six hundred and fifty-five (82,655) gowns; fifty-three thousand, five hundred and seventeen (53,517) medical scrubs; and forty-three thousand, six hundred and thirty-three (43,633) N-95 face masks. "

As I've already said, everything that has been achieved, so far, wouldn't have been possible without the strong co-operation of you, the Ghanaian people.

I know, at firsthand, the devasting impact the measures employed to defeat the virus has had on our social, religious, cultural and economic lives, as well as on our jobs, and the education of our children, and yet, because of love of country, we have borne with them.

I know, however, that we cannot live with these restrictions forever, and that it is imperative we find a safe way to return our lives to normality, as other nations across the globe are trying to do."

Is Ghana ready to deal with this phased opening up?

No doubt the president isn't oblivious of the challenges that lie ahead. However, he's optimistic that Ghana can weather the storm. He gave this assurance to the citizenry.

"Yes, there exists the possibility of a potential surge in infections. As a precautionary measure, we have strengthened further our existing national, regional and district response teams, with the support of the security forces, to step up to deal with any eventuality. Over recent weeks, we have learnt from the cases at the fish processing plant in Tema, and in the Obuasi municipality, how to deal with such sudden spikes.

We'll continue to learn, review and adjust where and when we need to do so. We'll only proceed with this staggered opening up of our country when it's safe to do so."

According to him, the onus lies on the people to observe and comply with the directives, emphasizing that the responsibility is now more than ever.

"We must adhere to enhanced personal hygiene and social distancing protocols, wash our hands with soap under running water, refrain from shaking hands, and wear our masks whenever we leave our homes. In the Ghanaian context, it has been established that the cases of comorbidity, i.e. underlying health conditions, that are associated with almost all the COVID-related deaths, are mainly diabetes and hypertension.

The risk factors for these diseases are being overweight, eating refined foods, too much salt and sugar in meals, inadequate physical exercise, excessive alcohol intake, and smoking. It is, thus, crucial that we improve our fitness levels, and adopt healthy eating practices that incorporate our local food stuffs, which boost our immune systems. Persons with these diseases must take extra precautions, and take their treatment seriously," he urged.

He called on the Information Ministry, the NCCE and the media to intensify public education of these protocols and directions."l entreat all religious, traditional, community and opinion leaders to continue to partner with government in engaging, mobilising and enforcing adherence to social distancing and personal hygiene practices in their respective communities."

Lessons
This pandemic has taught Ghana, Africa and for that matter the world a great lesson and President Akufo-Addo alluded to that fact during the address.

"We've learnt many lessons from this pandemic.
The most obvious is that we have to fortify urgently our public health system. We have committed to the implementation of ‘Agenda 88’, that is building, within a year, a fully-equipped, functional district hospital for each district that does not have one, and a fully-equipped, functional regional hospital for each of the new regions, together with a new regional hospital for the Western Region, and the rehabilitation of Effia Nkwanta Hospital in Sekondi. We have to empower and increase the number of our healthcare professionals across board."

Universal Health Coverage must become reality for all Ghanaians, not a slogan, for every Ghanaian deserves good health and good healthcare. We need to focus our energies on ensuring access of poor people to decent housing. We can no longer ignore this basic requirement of social justice. We have to make the things we use, and grow the foods we eat. We have to come out of this crisis better, stronger and more united than before. Ghana, free, united, socially just, self-reliant and productive, that is the Ghana we are going to create together after we have defeated this virus," said the president.

Bottom-line enforcement is the way to go. Authorities must ensure that the directive and all the conditions spelt out are followed to the letter. I'm hopeful, strict adherence to wearing of face masks especially could be a game-changer in this crucial time as we cannot afford to throw caution to the wind.

By Gordon Offin-Amaniampong