COVID-19: Akufo-Addo urged to re-impose ban on large funerals, weddings

The appeal was made by Prof. Gordon Awandare, Director of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana.

According to him, banning funerals and weddings will go a long way to help the country contain the Coronavirus pandemic.

“I was quite surprised that the President didn’t put a ban on funerals and weddings,” Prof. Awandare said, as quoted by Myjoyonline.

Director of WACCBIP, Prof. Gordon Awandare Pulse Ghana

The WACCBIP boss believes “people will always be irresponsible so if you give them the chance they will do it.”

“I think some people still have big weddings and big funerals in the midst of this crisis so we need to just put the ban on them… or at least reduce the numbers to 100 like he did before,” he added.

Ghana’s Coronavirus situation seemed to be improving towards the end of 2020 but there’s been a spike in cases in recent weeks.

Currently, the country has 1,924 active cases while 352 persons have died in the process, according to data from the Ghana Health Service.

Meanwhile, the new strain of the Coronavirus has been detected in Ghana after some passengers tested positive at the Kotoka International Airport.

This was disclosed by President Nana Akufo-Addo during his latest COVID-19 address on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

According to him, tests carried out at the airport confirmed that some passengers had tested positive for the new variant of COVID-19.

The President said the “recent genomic sequencing undertaken by our scientists have established that some arriving passengers tested positive for [the] new variants of COVID-19.”

He was, however, quick to note that the infected persons have all been isolated and are receiving treatment.

“Furthermore, work is ongoing to determine the presence and extent of spread of the new variants in the general population,” Nana Addo added.

Scientists say the new COVID-19 strain is more dangerous and more transmissible than the previously circulating viruses.