The Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Prosper K. Pi-Bansah has appealed to residents of the Municipality to volunteer information on 'escapees' from lockdown areas for quarantine to control the spread of the coronavirus disease.

He said intelligence points to some recalcitrant people defying the directives and 'nicodemously' travelling to the Municipality, which in turn hinders the fight against COVID-19.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Pi-Bansah wondered how people were allowed to cross-regional and district boundaries to arrive in Ho.

He said the vigilance of officials at roadblocks and entry points to Ho, specifically, Sokode-Bagble, Matse, Powerhouse and Agbokorfe led to the arrest of eight foreign nationals, who after screening were found to be negative.

He commended all partners including officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation, the Environmental Health Agency and the Motor Transport and Traffic Division of the Ghana Police for the cooperation.

Mr Pi-Bansah said social distancing was not being observed at the Ho Central Market even though official days for the market had been annulled to avoid overcrowding.

He said the Assembly and its stakeholders intended to move some market activities to the Jubilee park to decongest and mainstream social distancing protocol.

The MCE said 35 Veronica buckets, gallons of sanitizers, tissue papers and detergents had been distributed by the Assembly to relevant institutions.

In a related development, Dr. Archibald Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister said five hospitals in the region had been designated as holding facilities including Ho Teaching Hospital, Battor, Aflao, Hohoe and Kpando to take care of Covid-19 emergencies.

He said the region was far from a lockdown situation and called for support from all.  

Dr. Letsa said the Regional and District Health Management teams had stepped up surveillance on contact tracing and a total of 70 citizens who arrived from abroad from March 3, had been contacted.

He said the contacts of the two cases in Hohoe and that of Ho had been identified and quarantined and appealed to all and sundry to abide by the protocols and health tips.

The region has recorded nine cases and expecting results from samples sent for testing.