Accra: Seven arrested for flouting lockdown order, test positive for COVID-19

There is widespread fear among officers at the Adentan Police Station in Accra after seven persons who were arrested during the lockdown tested positive for COVID-19.

The seven were part of a group of 42 persons arrested for flouting COVID-19 lockdown directives in the national capital, according to media reports.

A partial lockdown was imposed on two major cities in Ghana in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officers were deployed to enforce the order to prevent the virus from spreading.

Subsequently, 37 police officers and 15 cell inmates at the Adentan Police Station had to be isolated at the Police Hospital following a contact tracing exercise.

“The team got to the place and did their necessary test and found that some of the people were positive. It was reported to me. We got to the place. We had all the people; about 20 or 30 policemen were tested”, Alexander Nii Adumuah, the Municipal Chief Executive of Adentan was quoted by CNR as saying.

“The Adentan Municipal Assembly has also sent a team to disinfect the place,” he said.

The development comes after officers who were deployed to enforce the COVID-19 lockdown in the country, have been directed to self-isolate and get tested for the virus.

Over 8,000 personnel will undergo the test, according to the Ghana Police Service. The country’s COVID-19 case count currently stands at 1,550 with 11 deaths.