Member of Parliament for the Effutu constituency says easing of restrictions on people amid the coronavirus pandemic can only be encouraged when authorities are assured of complete discipline among the citizenry.

According to Mr. Alex Afenyo-Markin, although the new numbers of recovery may be encouraging, without discipline and strict adherence to health protocols; people will continue to spread the virus making the pandemic last longer than expected.

“Driving through town and going to the constituency, people seem not to appreciate this whole pandemic problem. You see recklessness all over. People will wear the mask and when they are about talking, they will remove it.”

“To me, if we are not careful, we may find ourselves being under this unpalatable conditions for rather too long. If we can accept collective discipline and comply, we will be better off,” he told Samson Lardi Anyenini on Newsfile, Saturday.

Mr Afenyo-Markin said that he knows businesses have been affected by the pandemic which in turn has affected the economy.

Hence, it is necessary to limit the politics and the blame game when it comes to coronavirus stating that "at the end of the day it is the country that will be affected."

He went ahead to applaud the work of health officials handling the coronavirus cases stating that their efforts have helped lead to an improvement in case recoveries.

The MP stated that it is essential for hand washing, mask-wearing, social distancing, and other health directives to become a part of people’s daily lives to prevent more infections and deaths.

“If we are to contemplate the easing of the restrictions, then, we must equally contemplate further discipline by ourselves. If we are not disciplined on the way we do things and we allow things to go the way it’s been going more people will be affected.

The MP, who is also a member of Parliament's Public Account, Defence and Interior committee also mourned the death of 28 people connected to the virus.

According to him, people would not die from the virus if the community can take responsibility to help minimise the spread.

Currently, Ghana has 5,638 confirmed coronavirus cases with 1,460 recoveries and 28 deaths.

While the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service has placed the number of active cases at 4,150, regions like the Savannah, Ahafo and Bono East remain free of the virus.