Coronavirus: Ghana eases restrictions on places of worship; schools to reopen for final year students

01 Juin 2020

Accra, Ghana, June 1 (Infosplusgabon) – Ghana on Sunday announced the easing of restrictions on places of worship because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic even as the West African country’s positive cases hit 8,070.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 10th radio and television broadcast said in the first stage of easing restrictions, “an abridged format for religious services” can commence from 5 June.

Church services and Muslim prayers can be held with a maximum 100 congregants for not more than one hour with mandatory social distancing and other health protocols.

“In addition to the mandatory wearing of masks for all persons at all times in churches and mosques, a register of names and contact details of all worshippers and hand washing facilities and sanitisers must be provided, with a maximum duration of one hour for each service.”

President Akufo-Addo said leaders of such places of worship must disinfect, fumigate and put in place the requisite logistics needed to guarantee safe opening and operation.

As of Sunday, Ghana has conducted 218,425 tests with 8,070 being positive, 2,947 recoveries, 36 deaths and 5,087 responding to treatment at home, isolation centres and hospitals.

"Our hospitalisation and death rates have been, persistently, very low, some of the lowest in Africa and in the world," President Akufo-Addo said.

He said from 15 June, schools and universities will reopen to allow for final year students to resume classes ahead of the conduct of their respective exit examinations but with smaller sizes of students in classrooms. All educational institutions should be fumigated and disinfected.

President Akufo-Addo said private burials, now with a maximum of 100 persons, can continue to be performed.

Restaurants, providing seated services, can operate under appropriate social distancing arrangements and hygiene protocols.

“Individual, non-contact sports can go ahead. Conferences, workshops, weddings, and political activities, except rallies, can now take place, but with limited numbers not exceeding 100 persons present, with the appropriate social distancing and hygiene protocols.”

President Akufo-Addo said market places, work places, public transport, and constitutional and statutory bodies such as the Electoral Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education and the National Identification Authority, whose activities were exempted from the outset from these restrictions, must conduct their activities in accordance with social distancing and the necessary hygiene and safety protocols.

Meanwhile, the President has extended the suspension of other sporting events, nightclubs, cinemas, drinking spots, bars, beaches, festivals, funerals, political rallies, and large religious gatherings such as crusades, pilgrimages and conventions.

“Our border, by air, land and sea, remains closed until further notice for human traffic,” he said, adding that special dispensation will be given for the evacuation of Ghanaians stranded abroad.

He called for vigilance and respect for the enhanced hygiene and social distancing protocols that have become part and parcel of the daily routine over the last three months.

“We cannot afford to let our guard down, and ruin the successes we have chalked over this period,” he said.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/MOL/GABON2020

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