Prepare for more COVID 19 cases – Health Expert cautions
A health expert, Dr John Amoasi says Ghanaians should prepare for a spike in coronavirus cases due to the lifting of restriction of movement in some parts of the country.
“What I want to tell the people of our dear nation is that they should prepare for more cases of the coronavirus, not necessarily to prepare for more death but there will be more cases based on the decision taken by the president”.
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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced that the three-week partial lockdown on Greater Accra, Kasoa and Greater Kumasi will be lifted at 1 am on Monday, April 20, 2020.
But in an interview on Accra based radio station, monitor by Graphic Online, Dr Amoasi who is also a lecturer at KNUST College of Health Science, said President Akufo-Addo’s decision is a mistake because the country does not have the kind of data needed to be able to measure an infection rate.
He said the decision cannot be based on science, adding that it may be based on other factor he is not privy to.
He stressed that based on data and a clear knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease, the decision which he believes was not taken from a public health perspective, would rather lead to an increase in cases.
“We should prepare more cases of coronavirus, I am not saying that we should prepare for more deaths and destruction, I am not saying that it is going to collapse our economy. It has the potential to do it”
“But if the argument is that we are following the numbers and we are good to go and infections wouldn’t go up I will strongly contest that. “He said.
“It is definitely not public heath decision that I can tell you, whether it is an economic decision or not I cannot tell and in fairness I am not privy to all the variables that informed the decision making. What I am not happy about is the argument that the decision is based on public health... this I don’t agree with”
Meanwhile, Security Analyst Adib Saani has warned that the decision by the President to lift the partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi is a dangerous gamble that could backfire.