The Government of Ghana initially responded to the virus through a nationwide disinfection and fumigation exercise which began in April 2020. In order to curb the spread of the virus, the government enforced lockdowns, aggressive contact tracing, public bans and social measures such as encouraging the wearing of face masks. By April, it began the gradual reopening of the country; lifting all lockdowns while maintaining protocols such as social distancing. Throughout the pandemic, the government partnered with the private sector in order to roll out economic reliefs and recovery programs as a result of the impact of the pandemic on Ghana's economy. There was also an expansion of medical facilities and the improvement of testing logistics.
Background
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness that affected a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. This was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel COVID-19 a pandemic.
Ghana's first two cases of the corona virus disease were confirmed on 12 March 2020, when two infected people came to Ghana; one from Norway and the other from Turkey. The 2014 Ebola outbreak accelerated the preparedness efforts of Ghana as the government came together with its partners to take decisive action, implementing and developing the "National Preparedness and Response Plan for Prevention and Control of Ebola" in readiness for an outbreak. This helped build and strengthen systems to help address any future outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic.
Initial response
Disinfection and fumigation
From 3 April, over 464 markets were disinfected across the country. The second phase of nationwide fumigation begun in July. On 23 September, the MoE with GES collaborated with Zoomlion to disinfect and fumigate all SHS across Ghana to pave way for the reopening of schools. Over 3700 schools in the Greater Accra alone, were fumigated.
Bans and lockdowns
On 15 March 2020, at a press conference on the state of COVID-19, officials banned all public gatherings, including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, and church activities in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Basic schools, senior high schools, and both public and private universities were also closed. BECE and WASSCE candidates were permitted to remain in school whiles adhering to social distancing protocols.
On 30 March 2020, the partial lock down of Accra and Kumasi took effect. Only Members of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary; and some services such as those that were involved in the production, distribution and marketing of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, medicine, paper and plastic packages, media and telecommunications were exempted from the restrictions. In April 2020, At a press briefing, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, announced the commencement of local production of nose masks as part of efforts to arrest the spread of the pandemic. People who refused to wear face masks in public could face jail terms of 4–10 years, a fine of GHS12,000 (about US$2,065) to GHS60,000 (roughly US$10,320), or both, according to the new Executive Instrument, E.I. 164, signed by the President on June 15, 2020. In accordance with Article 21 of the Ghanaian Constitution, President Akufo-Addo declared various limitations on movement under the recently adopted Imposition of Restrictions Act 1012 of 2020. This was announced on 21 March 2020.
Travel to Ghana from countries with over 200 positive COVID-19 cases was deterred by authorities, with such travelers being denied admission; however, this restriction did not apply to Ghanaian citizens or people with resident permits. All of the country's borders were later closed from midnight of Sunday 22 March 2020. Passport services were also suspended.
Evacuation
According to the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, 2,262 Ghanaians in Lebanon were evacuated during the COVID-19 lock down and an amount of $1,062,600 was spent. On 13 September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed it has ended the evacuation of Ghanaians who were stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The evacuation exercise, which commenced on 23 May after the closure of borders in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, brought home over 9,000 Ghanaians and resident permit holders from countries around the world such as South Africa, The Gambia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, China, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo.