Political campaigns not cause of new coronavirus cases – Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has challenged claims that heightened political gatherings are contributing to the rise of COVID-19 cases in the country.

According to him, data on the rise of the virus does not support such assumptions.

“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,” he noted at a press conference in Accra Monday.

COVID-19 cases on the rise in Ghana

Ghana’s active cases in the ongoing COVID-19 fight has increased to 1156 from less than 330 a little over a month ago.

In the latest update released by the Ghana Health Service, the country has recorded 198 new cases taking the country’s total number of infections to 49,202.

In total, 47,726 people have recovered from the virus and have been discharged while the death toll remains at 320.

Addressing the nation on Sunday, President Akufo-Addo said “In recent weeks, however, we have observed a gradual change in the trajectory of the virus, with an increase in active cases from the 398 cases recorded three weeks ago, to 1,139 active cases, as at Friday, 6th November 2020. The total number of deaths now stands at 320, a great majority of them, still, with underlying illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic liver disease and asthma.”

The increase in active figures will be a worry to many as Europe and other parts of the World are experiencing a second wave of the virus that has claimed 1,241,243 lives and infected 49,131,800 globally.

The Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association Dr Titus Bayuo, has described as not surprising the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.

Dr Bayuo states that government was warned by the association months ago that the lifting of restrictions and the non-compliance of Ghanaians in adhering to safety measures could trigger an increase in cases.

He warned that the government could be forced to impose another lockdown or tougher restrictions if the cases continue to rise at the current state.

“If it comes to enforcement of law it lies within the domain of government and its security agencies in making sure people protect themselves. If we don’t take care of ourselves, and looking at the trajectory, we might have to go back to lockdown but if that can be avoided, why not,” Dr Bayuo said on Monday on the Morning Starr.