Imposition and lifting of lockdown was poorly executed – UG Snr Lecturer

Senior lecturer at the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Dr.Justice Moses Aheto has expressed his disappointment in the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Government regarding the imposition and lifting of the lockdown that occurred in the month of April.

According to him, the Coronavirus is a scientific problem and as such we need to allow scientific procedures to show the way forward.

Speaking in an interview on the Happy Morning Show(HMS), he told host Samuel Eshun, “Ghana Health Service is actually doing their best to contain the situation. However there are certain things that we have not been able to do together or a proper management of the situation”.

He added that if the Government decides to roll out certain interventions such as a lockdown, there are basic things that need to be considered.

“There are two key reasons for going for a lockdown. The first is to minimize the spread of the disease because the coronavirus is an infectious disease.

If you minimize how people come into contact with each other, you will minimize the spread as well. The second reason is for you to do easy contact tracing”.

He, however, noted that the purpose of the lockdown was not realized. “When the President came back to give a reason for lifting the lockdown we were made to understand that the lifting of the lockdown was based on data.

However, the data showed that the numbers were increasing. When the cases were minimal, we imposed a lockdown but when it increased we lifted the lockdown”, he added.

The President of Ghana imposed a three-week lockdown in the country as a measure to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus disease. However, the lockdown was lifted while maintaining ban on public gathering and closure of educational institutions.