Coronavirus: ‘Your uniforms not vaccines' - Security expert warns officers

A security expert, Osabutey Abass, has warned the security officers engaged in enforcing governments partial lockdown order that “their uniforms are not a vaccine for the COVID-19”, and must therefore follow the social distancing-protocol to avoid the contracting of the coronavirus.

He said the military and police officers who are deployed to enforce the directives of the two weeks partial lockdown in some parts of the country are at times seen in their patrol vehicles sitting close to each other.

Mr. Osabutey Abass, who is the Executive Director for the Platform for Peace and Security, Africa, said this in an interview with Captain Koda, the host of Otec FM’s morning show ‘Nyansapo’, on Thursday, April 4, 2020.

He said the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service must be watchful on the security forces, otherwise the security officers who are deployed to stop the spread of the virus will end up being the new carrier agents of the novel COVID-19.

“The security forces should know that apart from the uniforms they wear, they are human beings prone to the virus. You will see these officers interacting with the civilians without any face masks and overloaded in their operation vehicles. They should know that their uniforms are not a vaccine for the coronavirus,” he warned.

President Nana Akufo Addo, on Sunday, March 27, 2020, announced a two-week partial lockdown in Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi and Tema, aimed at containing and halting the spread of the virus within the country.