Coronavirus: Ghana to go on another lockdown – GMA

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has warned that Ghana is likely to head into another lockdown if the country’s Coronavirus cases continue to rise.

“If we don’t take care of ourselves, and looking at the trajectory, we might have to go back to lockdown but if that can be avoided, why not,” the Deputy General Secretary of the GMA who also doubles as a member of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the Association, Dr Titus Bayuo told Accra-based Starr FM on Monday, November 9, 2020.

“...we are pushing ourselves towards tougher restrictions [i.e. ban on social gatherings, lockdown] and if we get there the political leaders will have no option,” he added.

Dr Bayuo who was commenting on President Akufo-Addo’s latest address to the nation on the government’s handling of the contagion argued that if Ghanaians don’t protect themselves and cases keep going up, “the only way is to get restricted.”

“Is that what we want? If that’s not what we want, then we must act now,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo announced the extension of the incentive package for health workers to the end of the year as fears of a second wave of the deadly coronavirus pandemic in the country heightens.

“This means that all health workers will pay no income taxes for the months of October, November, and December, the President declared on Sunday, November 8, 2020, in his latest update on the government’s handling of the marauding contagion.

“Again, all frontline health workers, as defined by the Ministry of Health, will continue to receive the additional allowance of 50% of their basic salary per month, for the months of October, November, and December,” he added.

Ghana has observed a gradual change in the trajectory of the virus, with an increase in active cases from the 398 cases recorded 3 weeks ago, to 1,139 active cases, as of Friday, 6th November 2020.

The total number of deaths now stands at 320, a great majority of them, still, with underlying illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic liver disease, and asthma.

Also, the number of daily infections is on the rise, from an average of 25 new cases per day then, to an average of 130 new cases per day in the course of the last two weeks.