Why the government has yet to impose another COVID-19 lockdown | General news

Information Minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah explained that the government’s decision to impose another COVID-19 lockdown will not be based solely on the growing number of cases.

Rather, he says factors such as public adherence to COVID-19 security protocols would influence a lockdown decision.

Responding to questions during a press briefing on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said that although there have been calls for another lockdown as has been done in 2020, the decision taken at the time was a “precautionary measure”. which gave the government the opportunity to study the dynamics of the coronavirus and plan how to respond to them.

According to him, “it had nothing to do with the number of cases at the time.”

“Because if it were the number of cases, then of course there will be a strong argument to make that when the cases increase we will have to lock in more.

“This is how we knew our baseline positivity rate at the time. This is how we understood the percentages of people who fell ill and therefore we decide on isolation centers, profiling of people, etc. », He explained.

According to Oppong Nkrumah, the government would still impose a lockdown or some restrictions in the country if the upward trend in coronavirus disease continued.

“So it’s not specifically about the numbers. But yes, the numbers do play a role at some point and that’s why we say that if you look at today’s numbers and look at the characteristics of that third rise, and the fact that still a lot of people don’t ‘Not dodging what they need to do to help us reduce it, we are heading for further restrictions if this trend continues,’ he said.

He therefore urged the public to strictly adhere to COVID-19 protocols to ensure the spread of the virus is curbed.

“We are reminded that we all have to do the things that we were doing to make sure that this third ascent, we can stop it quickly. Because the dynamics of this third ascent seem to be a little different from the first two we had, including the number of people getting sick, serious and critical … If that number keeps increasing … if it continues to increase … if this continues as it happens, as the President himself has expressed it, we are heading for more restrictions and if that involves reviewing some of the legal instruments, yes, this is where it is that we are going to lead, ”he added.

Vaccines

Mr Oppong-Nkrumah also rejected reports suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccine, once approved and acquired by the government, would first be administered to a certain category of public.

He said the President would announce to the public when the vaccine has been approved by the presidential task force.

“The Covid-19 Response Working Group subcommittee that has been working on vaccine policy has done a lot of work since last week and has proposals that will hopefully now be approved at the working group level. presidential. I’ve seen reports that suggest the policy has already been approved and some people are going to take it first.

“I would like to inform you that this is not the case. These are proposals from the subcommittee, then it will go to the working group for the final decisions and any modifications, etc. go first and who gets it next, so please wait for now, ”he clarified.