Coronavirus: Wear protective masks – Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has encouraged Ghanaians to wear facemasks wherever they go, as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The President said the Ministry of Health will soon issue guidelines on facemasks for public use.

Nana Akufo-Addo gave the advice in a televised address to the nation on Sunday, 19 April 2020, via which he also lifted the three-week-old partial lockdown in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Greater Kumasi due to the country’s ability to undertake aggressive contact-tracing of infected persons, "the enhancement of our capacity to test, the expansion in the numbers of our treatment and isolation centres, the better understanding of the dynamism of the virus, the ramping up of domestic capacity to produce our own personal protective equipment, sanitisers and medicines; the modest successes chalked at containing the spread of the virus in Accra and Kumasi, and the severe impact on the poor and vulnerable".

The President said as "the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently advised, I want to encourage you to wear a mask wherever you go, as it will help you not to contract the virus, and keep it clean. If you own a business, or are providing a service, i.e. a barber, a hairdresser, a tailor, a taxi driver, a trotro driver and his ‘mate’, a shopkeeper, a food seller, please do well to use a mask".

The President further entreated religious, traditional, community and opinion leaders to partner the government in engaging, mobilising and enforcing adherence to social-distancing protocols and personal hygiene practices in their respective communities.

He further encouraged all bereaved persons to conduct private burials of their loved ones, but ensure that the 25-person limit is not breached.”