Coronavirus: Parents who allow children to loiter in town to be arrested

Parents who let loose their children to loiter or engage in petty trading within the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis will be arrested, local authorities have announced as part of measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country.

A taskforce set up for roam the metropolis is set to begin its work from today, March 24, Metropolitan Chief Executive Anthony K.K. Sam has announced Monday.

“From tomorrow [March 24] we will be going round. Any parent who leaves the child to loiter in town, we will arrest you,” he said in Twi while speaking on the sidelines of a donation by the GNPC Foundation at Takoradi Market Square.

“Have you seen these children standing here, they can contract the virus so we beg you the parents not to let money push you to let your child get the virus,” he advised.

He said schools were closed down for pupils and students to go home in a bid to stop the spread, hence the need for parents to be responsible and ensure that their children stay at home and not loiter in town under any circumstance.

“The children were asked to go and stay at home when schools were closed, we didn’t say they should go and sell ice water or other things in town,” he indicated.



Since confirming its first two cases on March 12, the figure has risen to 27 with two deaths and no recoveries as of March 23. Currently, there are 25 existing cases who are receiving treatment in isolation.

Twenty of them are of Ghanaian nationality, majority of whom returned home from affected countries. The seven others are nationals of Norway, Lebanon, China, France and UK.

So far Ghana has tested a total of 521 suspected cases.

In respect of contact tracing, a total of 598 contacts have been identified and are being tracked. One of the contacts who developed symptoms later tested positive for the virus.

Several measures including the closing of the country’s points of entry, ban on social gathering of more than 25 people, closure of beaches, night clubs and churches have been announced by government to stem the rate of spread of the virus.

Globally, more than 339,000 people have been infected by the pandemic while more than 98,000 of them have recovered and over 14,000 people killed by the virus.