Lock down the country - Ghana Health Service advises govt

Per public health principles, it will be in the country’s best interest to lock down, says the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Aboagye.

His comment comes on the back of Ghana seeing a rising number of new infections as the days go by.

According to the Director-General of GHS, it will be prudent for Ghana to take cues from countries who have shut down as the country keeps recording overnight surge in the coronavirus cases.

“If we want to apply public health principles that will be now. But we don’t live only on public health, we have other parameters to consider, but looking at just the public health principles now will be the best time to shut down. But there are other ramifications and so those things, we need to calculate and make sure that at the earliest point, such systems are put in place,” he said on Newsfile, Saturday, March 21, 2020.

Currently, Ghana has a total number of 19 recorded cases of the coronavirus.

Speaking on Joy News, Dr. Patrick Aboagye stated the need for the citizenry to be adherent to the precautionary measures outlined by the Ghana Health Service and the World Health Organization. This, he believes will slow down the spread of the outbreak.

He also debunked claims that gatherings of 25 persons and less can moderate the virus spread.

“For me, even the kind of introductions that have come in now, if we are disciplined enough to abide by them, it will significantly work well. The fact that they say we have closed schools doesn’t mean you should go and meet in the park and play football, we need to ensure that you don’t need to go out. You don’t go out to the mall, just roaming, these are the things all of us need to observe.

“I don’t know where the 25 number limit is coming from, the number the President mentioned is only limited to a private burial but all public gatherings have been banned now,” he noted.