Government has been urged to urgently start mass testing in the Eastern Region following a spike in the number of confirmed Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
Communications officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the region, Darlas Williams, who made the call, argued it is expedient to take that measure, especially in the affected areas to contain further spread of the virus.
The Eastern Region has experienced an increase in confirmed cases of the virus from one to 28 in the last couple of days.
According to Williams, the Region had not recorded any case when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo first gave the social distancing directives as part of measures to contain the virus from spreading.
Public gatherings, he said, including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, sporting events and religious activities in churches and mosques and educational activities were halted.
“However, the NIA ignored the President’s directives and continued with the Ghana Card mass registration exercise in the Region,” he said.
Darlas argued that the exercise led to massive crowds in all the centers with healthy people, aged, sick and disabled all struggling to be registered in defiance to the social distancing directive.
He said, “The same registration equipments such as fingerprint scanners were shared by all persons who turned up to register.”
“Failure by President Akufo-Addo to advise his appointee, Ken Attafuah, to suspend the exercise has yielded this scary result in the Eastern Region,” he stated.
He indicated that a number of railway workers in Belokope Quarters who have been confirmed positive were at New Covenant Apostle Church, a registration centre of the Ahodwo Electoral Area in the Lower Manya District.
These people, he said, have also been seen in several bars and pubs in town frolicking with girls, which could possibly have transmitted the virus to other innocent people.
“This has created fear in adjoining Districts such as Upper Manya, Yilo, Asuogyaman, Okere, Akropong and New Juaben North and South because of the daily interactions across these districts by traders.”
The NDC communicator blamed the situation on President Akufo-Addo for failing to halt the mass registration exercise by the National Identification Authority (NIA) in the Eastern Region even after his precautionary directives were issued.
He argued that had the President called Ken Attafuah to order to suspend the exercise after the directive had been issued, the region’s status would have been different today.
He said, “Ken Attafuah was however acting according to the orders of President Akufo-Addo in his bid to seek re-election through the use of the Ghana Card to compile the New Voters Register as announced by the Electoral Commissioner without recourse to the safety of the electorate in the wake of the COVID-19,” he stated.
This, he said, was evident in the spirited defense of the Attorney General and the NIA against an injunction brought against the Authority by two citizens from the Krobo area.
Darlas noted that the President needs to issue new directives in relation to the Eastern Region in other to contain the rising Coronavirus situation and save the lives of people
