28th Covid-19 Update: Prez Akufo-Addo to address the nation tonight
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to address the nation tonight on measures taken to curb the spread of the Coronavirus in Ghana.
The address which will be live-streamed on GraphicOnline as well as telecasted on other major television networks will start at 8 pm.
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LIVESTREAM: 28TH COVID-19 Update by President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo's address, the 28th since the outbreak of Coronavirus in the country is likely to address the two-year closure of the country's borders.
Ghana as of March 24, 2022, had 71 active cases of COVID-19 and had administered over 13million vaccine doses.
Border closure
In a March 21, 2020, update on the status of measures put in place to help minimise the spread of COVID-19, the President suggested the need for Ghana’s borders to be closed.
Consequently, he ordered the closure of Ghana's land, sea, and air borders to human traffic, effective midnight, March 22, 2020.
The air borders were later opened on September 1, 2020, and subsequently the sea borders.
However, despite several appeals to the government by lawmakers from the land border communities for the borders to be opened, the government has argued that opening the borders would lead to the importation of COVID-19 cases.
Appeals
The Minority in Parliament recently urged President Akufo-Addo to take urgent steps to reopen the country’s land borders to facilitate the free flow of persons, goods and services across borders with ECOWAS member states.
Addressing a press briefing, the Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said there was no justification for the continued closure of Ghana’s land borders.
The Minority leader also expressed concern over what he described as the fleecing and rip-off of Ghanaians and international travellers coming to Ghana in the name of COVID-19 charges at the Kotoka International Airports by Frontiers Health Services.
Those charges, he said, must be reviewed by the government as nowhere in the world did anyone pay $150 for a COVID-19 test.
“I was in Doha, Qatar and Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa returned from Romania and the least you pay for a COVID-19 test is $50 and most probably the highest would be $100, so it is questionable for non-Ghanaians to be compelled to continue to pay $150 in the name of COVID-19 test and raises questions of us using COVID-19 as a money-making enterprise instead of a public pandemic that needs our collective effort to combat and deal with,” he said.
“What is it that we cannot do for our own citizens who want to return to Ghana to contribute to the social and economic of our country?” the Minority leader asked.
