COVID-19: Results of over 15,000 people to determine lockdown extension

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says government is awaiting the results of some 15,384 people who have been tested for the Coronavirus disease.

He said the results would determine the next course of action by government.

In a nationwide broadcast on Sunday evening, President Akufo-Addo said the results would determine whether or not there would be a need for extension of the two-week restriction on movement.

“We are, thus, about to enter a critical phase of our fight in the coming week, as the Ghana Health Service is due to receive the results of some 15,384 out of 19,276 persons who have been reached through contact tracing. It is the results of these tests that will determine our future course of action,” he said.

“So, in the course of the coming week, a determination will be made as to whether or not to extend the duration of the two-week restriction on movement, and the implementation or otherwise of any more enhanced measures to deal with the virus,” he added.

He added that of the 1,030 travellers who were mandatorily quarantined and tested on their arrival in Ghana on the 21st and 22nd of March, 105 of them tested positive and had been isolated for treatment.

He further stated that 804 of them had been released to join their families, while an additional 121 were in the process of being released and that

“I want to thank all of them and their families and loved ones for their understanding and co-operation with the stringent procedures that government was forced to deploy in the public interest,” he said.