LIVE UPDATES: First press briefing after lifting of lockdown

The Ministry of Information holds a press briefing to showcase to the public, the science and numbers behind the testing in Ghana’s covid-19 program.

It comes barely three days after the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo lifted the three-week old restrictions on movements of persons in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa, and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and its contiguous districts.

Explaining what informed the decision, the president on Sunday said the test results of some 68,591 contacts had been received. 1,042 persons, i.e. 1.5%, have been confirmed as positive, with 67,549, i.e. 98.5%, testing negative.

Additionally, 99 persons have recovered and have been discharged, with 930 persons, who have been isolated responding to treatment either in their homes or in treatment facilities.

“…in view of our 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, our better understanding of the dynamism of the virus, the ramping up of our 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, I have taken the decision to lift the three (3) week old restriction on movements…”

He however noted that other measures taken by the government to curb the spread are still in force.

The decision to lift the ban has been greeted with mix reactions. While others argue that it was wrong considering that the country has recorded more community cases, government insists its decision was backed by scientific data.

In the midst of the controversy, the Information Ministry says it has assembled experts for this morning’s presser. They are expected to give updates in case counts and management as well as Ghana’s testing capacity.