Make sure spectators comply with coronavirus safety protocols – President Akufo-Addo to GFA, NSA

The National Sports Authority and the Ghana Football Association have been charged to ensure that the 25% capacity directive is adhered to at various match venues.

Since the Ghana Premier League resumed, there have been breaches of the coronavirus protocols at the various match venues.

The latest of such breaches was recorded at the Accra Sports Stadium when Accra Great Olympics defeated rivals Accra Hearts of Oak.

The incident incurred the wrath of the Ghana Football Association who asked Hearts to play their home matches behind closed doors.

The NSA also in a release condemned the behaviour of spectators at the game and warned that they will be forced to close down the stadium if the protocols are not adhered to.

Addressing the country on Sunday, January 31, 2021, President Akufo-Addo urged the FA and NSA to ensure that spectators comply with the directive.

“Restaurants should provide take-away services, and should, as much as possible, avoid seated services. The National Sports Authority and the Ghana Football Association should ensure compliance with the twenty-five per cent (25%) capacity rule in our stadia, with spectators respecting the social distancing rule and wearing of masks.

President Akufo-Addo reintroduced the ban on funerals, weddings, concerts and parties.

He also provided an update on Ghana’s chase for the coronavirus vaccine.

So, fellow Ghanaians, until further notice, funerals, weddings, concerts, theatrical performances, and parties are banned. Private burials, with no more than twenty-five (25) people, can take place, with the enforcement of the social distancing, hygiene and mask-wearing protocols,” the president said.

“Fellow Ghanaians, in Update No. 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this. Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population with an initial target of twenty million people.

Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people. The earliest vaccine will be in the country by March.”