It’s unacceptable – Akufo-Addo on 'alarming' drop in mask-wearing

President Nana Akufo-Addo has described as unacceptable, the “alarming” drop in the number of people who wear nose masks when leaving home and warned that there are laws to deal with anybody caught breaching the COVID-19 safety protocols.

In his 16th address to the nation on the pandemic on Sunday, 30 August 2020, President Akufo-Addo observed that: “The number of active cases continues to be on the decline” but warned that it must not be a cause for complacency.

“At the time of my last address, two weeks ago, the total number of active cases, that is persons currently with the virus, stood at one thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven (1,847) persons.

“As of Friday, 28 August 2020, the number of active cases has reduced to one thousand, and fifty-nine (1,059) persons.

“A total of forty-two thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three (42,963) persons have recovered, and two hundred and seventy-six (276) persons, a great majority of them with underlying illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes and chronic liver disease, have sadly died”, he said.

He noted that: “Inasmuch as these statistics are encouraging, in contrast to what is pertaining in several countries across the world, we cannot afford to let our guard down”.

“We have to maintain, in a state of constant readiness, the enhanced infrastructure and expertise we have built during the period of the virus to cope with it.

According to the President, “I have been reliably informed that, in some regions of our country where there are no active cases, some residents are abandoning, altogether, the protocols, such as the wearing of masks, put in place to defeat the virus.

“Indeed, the high compliance rate with mask-wearing of persons surveyed by the Ghana Health Service in some selected areas of Accra, to which I referred optimistically in my last address, has, according to a new survey by the same Service, fallen alarmingly.

“This is not acceptable, as the enhanced hygiene, mask-wearing and social-distancing protocols must now be central features of our lives, and they must continue to remain so for some time to come, until we see to the elimination of the virus from our country.

“Let me remind those amongst us, who want to continue to disregard these protocols, that severe sanctions exist in our laws for such persons, who will want to endanger the rest of the population through their actions and negligence.

“The law enforcement agencies will, where necessary, apply these measures without fear or favour, ill-will or malice, and without recourse to a person’s ethnicity, gender or religion”, the President warned.