Government has stepped up messaging on COVID-19 awareness – Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has indicated that the government is stepping up messaging on the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

He said the government has put in place appropriate risk communication systems to inform the general public particularly those in remote areas on the new wave of the virus and ways to observe the preventive etiquettes.

He made this known at the regular Minister’s press briefing in Accra on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.

According to him, this is to ensure strict adherence to the safety protocols of the virus in the wake of a surge in active cases and a reported new strain.

He said: “you will notice that the government is stepping up messaging on COVID prevention etiquette. This includes mass media messaging and then also through the Information Services Department vans out there to step up the message so that we get a lot more compliance to the mask-wearing mandate.”

The Minister used the opportunity to admonish Ghanaians to continue to adhere to the safety protocols of the virus such as regular washing of hands with soap and under running water, physical distancing and the wearing of nose masks.

Meanwhile, Ghana's COVID-19 total case count stands at 67,617 with 61,843 recoveries, an active case count of 5,515 and 424 deaths.

According to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, majority of the active cases are from the Greater Accra Region (56.7%), followed by the Ashanti Region (16%) and the Western Region (6.1%).