The Ghana Police Service is set to crack down on flouters of the directive on mask-wearing at all public places and on public transport.
The police will also close down all night clubs, pubs, and beaches that may be operating in defiance of the Covid protocols and laws.
Operators of public transport and owners of workplaces have also been warned to conduct their activities in accordance with the hygiene and safety protocols including mask-wearing or risk being shut down and the appropriate sanctions applied.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo disclosed these on Sunday evening when he delivered his update no. 22 on the measures the government has taken against the spread of the Coronavirus.
These actions, he said, have become necessary due to a possible second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and warned the state could go into another lockdown.
According to him, if the number of active cases continues to increase at the current rate he will have no option but to reimpose the partial lockdown and other restrictions.
He disclosed there has been an upsurge in the number of new cases from a little over 900 to 1,924 in just two weeks.
Health facilities, he said, have gone from having zero patients to now being full because of the upsurge in infections and indicated the Ghana Health Service is recording an average of 200 Covid-19 infections daily.
He said, “The number of patients requiring hospitalization and intensive care is rising. The number of severe cases, which stood at 18 a week ago has increased sharply to 120. Two weeks ago there were no critical cases but we now have 33 in our treatment facilities.”
“Again, according to statistics from the Ghana Health Service, the considerable number of persons who are severely ill are surprisingly, relatively youthful patients with no previous underlining health conditions.”
“The number of confirmed deaths has also increased sadly from 338 persons to 352 within the period,” he added.
The President stated that detailed investigations of the increase in cases indicate apart from infected passengers arriving into the country, those who tested positive are persons who attended parties, weddings, end-of-year office programmes, and family get-togethers and funerals but abandoned the use of the face mask and defied other safety protocols.
13 out of the 16 regions, he said, have so far recorded active cases and warned the health infrastructure could be overwhelmed if the situation persists.