Churches will have to give up the annual conventions, hosanna processions and picnics associated with Easter celebrations.

They will be stemming the spread of Covid-19. Religious organizations and health officials worry that social gatherings are the catalyst for an increase in cases and would not want to deal with the situations brought on by last year’s Christmas festivities.

Current figures shown by the Ghana health service indicate that the virus hasn’t slowed yet. With 106 new cases and 734 deaths, an Immunologist at the West Africa Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACBIP), Dr. Yaw Bediako insists that social gatherings should be strictly prohibited.

“In my opinion, the fact that people are still having weddings always in the church building, to me undermines the spirit behind the event. Social gatherings are where this virus spreads and I know it's inconvenient and we want to move back to live as normal.

"But the more we fight against these restrictions and try to find loopholes, the longer we will be dealing with this…so let’s just give up our big Easter so that maybe we will have a big Christmas,” he said.

Director of Public Health, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe is strongly calling on Ghanaians to mind their protection and keep to the safety protocols as the new variants are even more dangerous.

“The Ghanaian should take care of his health because whatever happened in early January and late December was clearly two things: A Ghanaian who is unprotected and introduction of a new variant which is very violent….I mean that is what happened.

"If we didn’t have the new variant we would have gotten the infections but it wouldn’t have been at that high level. Because we have a new variant that is more severe and more efficient in transmission. You juxtapose that with a Ghanaian who is more exposed, no face mask, we hope we don’t get to that in the Easter…”

Even, the churches are cautioning leaders to desist from gatherings and strictly adhere to safety protocols. A statement by the heads of the Christian Ecumenical bodies in Ghana details a campaign for a safe Easter.

General Secretary for the Christian Council, Rev. Cyril Fayose is advising a moderate celebration.

“We want a very quiet celebration. Last year, because of Covid we didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate at all but fortunately, Covid is under a bit of control this year, so the churches are still open and we are going to have a celebration but we should celebrate in moderation.”

Most churches are yet to respond to this advice with days to the Easter period.