General News of Monday, 20 April 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Coronavirus: Street beggars resume with full force after partial lockdown lift

Beggars had lined up in various parts of the city, begging for money Beggars had lined up in various parts of the city, begging for money

Over three weeks, the streets were clear of them. They depended on government’s distribution of food programme to mostly survive.

Areas including the Accra Mall, Accra Newtown, and other areas where these people usually are found, had virtually zero numbers.

Barely hours after the President’s announcement about a reversion of the directive on restrictions of movements, they are back, all over the streets, around your little corner, everywhere, doing what they do best, begging!

While some are clustered with their children, waiting for passers-by to donate something, others are in wheelchairs by the streets, appealing to commuters and vehicle owners to come to their aid.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has lifted the directive on restriction of movement in some parts of the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions.

In what came as a surprise to many Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo in his seventh address to the nation on measures put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 announced an end to a three-week partial lockdown imposed on some parts of the country.



According to the President, the decision was influenced by several factors including Ghana’s ability to undertake aggressive contact tracing, an 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.