Coronavirus: Ghana likely to be on lockdown from Sunday - Bright Simons hints

Bright Simons, Vice President of Imani Ghana has hinted of a national lockdown tomorrow March 22, 2020, by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

In a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb, Mr Simons posited that the lockdown has been recommended to the president by the National Security Council as a measure to control the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

"Highly placed sources: Ghana's Prez advised by National Security Council to commence lockdown from tomorrow," he tweeted this today March 21, 2020.

Mr Simons added that though, the country needs drastic measures put in place, the government must not copy blindly from other countries who used the lockdown approach.

"We all agree that these are unprecedented times. But this is not the time to copy blindly. "Lockdown" must mean very specific things in an African context. Nothing generic.

Examples: 1. most emergency workers have no cars of their own 2. Ambulance service is sclerotic 3. So public transport is part of critical transit system. 4. Community pharmacies are major health outlets. 5. Radio stations are the functional emergency frequencies. #SmartPolicyPls," his tweet reads.

Highly placed sources: Ghana's Prez advised by Natl Secu Council to commence lockdown from tomorrow. We all agree that these are unprecedented times. But this is not the time to copy blindly. "Lockdown" must mean very specific things in an African context. Nothing generic.

— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) March 21, 2020

Examples: 1. most emergency workers have no cars of their own 2. Ambulance service is sclerotic 3. So public transport is part of critical transit system. 4. Community pharmacies are major health outlets. 5. Radio stations are the functional emergency frequencies. #SmartPolicyPls

— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) March 21, 2020

Coronavirus cases rise to 19 in Ghana

Three more confirmed cases of the global pandemic, coronavirus have been recorded in the Greater Accra Regional capital, Accra and Ashanti Region.

According to the Ghana Health Service, the three (3) new COVID-19 cases were confirmed on the 20th March 2020 with being reported from Greater Accra Region and one from Ashanti Region.

The report disclosed that the 17th case is a 55-year-old Ghanaian woman who resides in the United Kingdom but returned to Ghana about two weeks ago. After showing symptoms and getting tested, the results came out positive in the laboratory.

The 18th case is also a Ghanaian lady resident in the UK. The 84-year-old lady came to Ghana within the past two (2) weeks and developed symptoms. Laboratory tests of her sample confirmed the coronavirus.



A 27-year-old Chinese male who returned to Ghana and travelled to the Ashanti Region in the past two weeks developed symptoms and sample confirmed positive in the laboratory.

This brings to a total of nineteen (19) confirmed cases in Ghana, with no death.

Contact tracing has started in all these confirmed cases.