Disregard for COVID-19 preventive protocols unacceptable – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on the law enforcement agencies to deal with persons who are found to be in disregard of the etiquette since their actions stand to endanger the lives of many others.

The call comes at the back of what he describes as the fast decline in the level of compliance to COVID-19 preventive protocols in various parts of the country.

According to him, the development is “unacceptable” and could reverse the gains the country has made in the fight against COVID-19.

Delivering his 16th national update on the country’s fight against COVID-19, the president said the COVID-19 preventive measures must become the norm until there is a declaration of no case in the country.

“The high compliance rate with mask-wearing of persons surveyed by the Ghana Health Service in some selected areas of Accra, to which I referred optimistically in my last address, has, according to a new survey by the same Service, fallen alarmingly. This is not acceptable, as the enhanced hygiene, mask-wearing and social distancing protocols must now be central features of our lives, and they must continue to remain so for some time to come, until we see to the elimination of the virus from our country,” the president said.

“Let me remind those amongst us, who want to continue to disregard these protocols, that severe sanctions exist in our laws for such persons, who will want to endanger the rest of the population through their actions and negligence. The law enforcement agencies will, where necessary, apply these measures without fear or favour, ill-will or malice, and without recourse to a person’s ethnicity, gender or religion,” he added.