The sounds of gunshots heard from the Jubilee House early Wednesday morning form part of the military's preparation towards this year's March 6, celebrations, the presidency has said.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the president has announced that this year’s celebrations will be without the usual parade in a selected regional capital as has been done recently.

According to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, a scaled-down celebration will take place at the Jubilee House and is expected to last no more than one hour.

"This year's independence day celebrations will be held at the forecourt of the Jubilee House largely as a result of Covid-19. Because of the pandemic, a relatively scaled-down will take place.

"This morning the military undertook some of their dress rehearsals ahead of the programme on Saturday. One of the things they've always been doing at every Independence Day celebration has been the 21-gun salute.

"So this morning they undertook a rehearsal of the 21-gun salute in and around the Jubilee House. This is something normal, there's nothing untoward about it. It's part of the rehearsal ahead of 6th March on Saturday," he stated.

Ghana’s independence day celebrations usually feature well-rehearsed and coordinated parades from various schools across the country.

However, due to the pandemic, the President directed the suspension of this year’s March 6^th celebrations and all its related activities in the Regions, Metropolitan/Municipal/District/ Assemblies across the country.

In line with this, the GES last month released a statement informing all Heads of Schools across the country that the 64^th Independence Anniversary Parade on March 6, 2021 has been suspended” due to the “high prevalence rate of Covid-19 cases in the country”.