The government is providing food for underprivileged persons in parts of the country that are under lockdown.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said the distribution of such packages which include dry food packages and hot meals “began in Accra on Sunday and will begin in Kumasi Monday.”

The package is targeted at some 400,000 individuals and homes in the affected areas of the restrictions imposed by Akufo-Addo in his bid to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Local Government and Rural Development, and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) are working with MMDCEs and the faith-based organisations to get this done, Akufo-Addo noted.

“We are in difficult times,” he said, adding “that is why I directed the Minister for Finance to send to Parliament the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP), whose objective is to protect households and livelihoods, support micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, minimise job losses, and source additional funding for promotion of industries to shore up and expand industrial output for domestic consumption and exports.”

The President, in his address on Sunday, also announced some insurance packages for health personnel and allied professional at the forefront of the fight against the new coronavirus.

“An insurance package, with an assured sum of ¢350,000 for each health personnel and allied professional at the forefront of the fight, has been put in place, with a daily allowance of ¢150 being paid to contact tracers,” he said.

Health workers will also not pay taxes on their emoluments for the next three months, April, May and June.

“Furthermore, all frontline health workers will receive an additional allowance of 50% of their basic salary per month, i.e. for March, April, May and June. The March allowance will be paid alongside that of April,” the president said.