Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management at New York University has proposed a partial lockdown Covid-19 hotspots in Ghana.

Nana Kofi Quakyi’s call comes in the wake of spikes in cases recorded within the past two weeks.

A total of 3,667 new Covid-19 cases were recorded with 16 infected persons succumbing to the virus between June 1 and June 15.

To slow down the spread of the virus, Mr Quakyi called for public health interventions that go beyond testing and treating infected individuals.

“We need to have a reconsideration of the potential of having at least localised lockdowns and curfews with specific programmes and protocols in place. We really cannot continue with the trend of cases,” he told host Daniel Dadzie on Prime Morning on Joy Prime June 15.

In April 2020, President Akufo-Addo imposed a partial lockdown on Greater Accra Region, Kasoa, Kumasi and its peri-urban communities in the Ashanti Region as part of measures to stem the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

After three weeks of restricting movements in these areas, the government lifted the ban on the bases of undertaking what it described as an aggressive contact tracing, enhanced capacity to test, expansion of the number of treatment and isolation centres as well as the impact of the virus on the poor and vulnerable in the affected areas.

But the Adjunct Assistant Professor suggests an imposition of curfews or the restriction of movements in localities that witnessed increased cases of infections.

Though the Global Health Expert acknowledges the economic ramifications, he believes safeguarding the lives of several other Ghanaians and returning the country to normalcy must be paramount.