Surge in coronavirus active cases not due to political rallies – Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has dismissed claims that campaign rallies ahead of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections have resulted in the increase in the coronavirus active cases in the country recently.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, November 9, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said “I have heard that argument that it must be the politicians because they are having activities, walks etc.

“The data of the national spread of this recent rise that we have had, if it is true, then we should be seeing widespread cases in all of these regions where you are having all of these activities.

“If it is true, the data should support it. But the data does not support that. It is a nice argument to make especially if you want to take politicians on but the data is not supporting it.”

Ghana’s active cases of coronavirus has recently flared up in what has become a worry to all and sundry including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

From about 397 active cases barely a fortnight ago, the current active cases are 1,156, almost at par with what was recorded at the end of August (1,159).

The country reached its highest active cases, however, in June with 8,585 at a time the total cases were 13,203.

Efforts made by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to manage the situation recently saw a decline in the active cases despite marginal number of infections.

Currently, the cumulative number of cases is 49,202 with 47,726 recoveries-cum-discharges.

The deaths are 320, which has remained same since Thursday, October 29.

“Fellow Ghanaians, it appears that we are letting our guards down,” President Akufo-Addo observed in his 19th update to the nation on Sunday, November 8.

“Now more than ever we have to adhere to mask-wearing, hand washing, use of sanitizers and social distancing protocols.“

He attributed the flare-up to the negligence on the part of the citizenry to adhere to the safety protocols.

He singled out the Greater Accra Region as recording about 75 percent of all the active cases.

The capital region has so far recorded a total of 26,007 cases, out of which 813 are active cases.

“Fellow Ghanaians, I am appealing to all of you to be even more disciplined in your adherence to the personal hygiene, mask-wearing and social distancing measures,” the president begged.

“We cannot afford, at this critical moment, to throw caution to the wind, and destroy the incredible amount of work undertaken by government, health officials, heroic frontline health workers, and members of the security agencies, in bringing us this far. It is very clear that the more we adhere to the protocols, the quicker we defeat the virus.”