The Ghana Police Service says it expects the immediate compliance from the public on the mandatory wearing of face mask, as directed by President Nana Akufo-Addo while awaiting the Executive Instrument on the subject.

The Police in a short statement advised that wearing face mask will “safeguard our health, our families our loved ones and our Country.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo in his eleventh address to the nation on Sunday, 14 June 2020 said the wearing of face masks is now mandatory.

He warned that anybody who goes out without wearing one will be dealt with by the police.

The President said: “It is important for me to remind residents of the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions, where the great majority of cases have been recorded, and in the Western and Central Regions, where we are seeing an increase in infection cases, to continue to adhere strictly to the social distancing and enhanced hygiene protocols announced”.

“With the doctors and scientists telling us that the virus is transmitted from human contact, through talking, singing, coughing and sneezing, which results in sending droplets of the virus from one person to another, residents of these four regions, and, indeed, all Ghanaians, must remember that the wearing of masks is now mandatory. Leaving our homes without a face mask or face covering on is an offence”, he said.

“The police have been instructed to enforce this directive, which is the subject of an Executive Instrument”, the President added.

“Let me repeat: our survival is in our own hands. If we are lax and inattentive, we will continue to have serious challenges with the virus. If we are mindful and self-disciplined, we have it in us to defeat this pandemic and help return our lives to normalcy.