Coronavirus: Reopening of bars could trigger spike in cases – Virologist warns

Health experts are warning Ghana could see a spike in Covid- 19 cases if measures are not taken to halt the flagrant disregard for social distancing and other protocols especially following the reopening of open-air bars.

Over the weekend, it was a free-for-all party at some pubs in Accra.

3news.com’s Komla Adom, who visited Purple Pub in Osu reports all that mattered to the hundreds who had thronged the venue was their music and their alcoholic beverages.

None of the protocols was being observed.

Even a Veronica bucket – with no water nor soap – sat helplessly in the corner of the roadside bar.

This is a development virologist Dr. Augustina Sylverken of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) finds extremely worrying.

“If we don’t adhere to the precautionary measures, then an increase in cases stares us in the face,” she told 3news.com in a Zoom interview.

She added: “There may be a measure to shut down all these bars if we all fail to adhere to the protocols.”

But for the police – who are leading enforcement of some these restrictions – there is an engagement currently ongoing with regulators over the possibility of shutting these errant operators.

At Kona – another popular pub along the Osu Oxford Street, however, the place remained shut.

The situation – 300 meters away from Kona, where another open-air pub Seralio is situated – was no different.

Only that, managers of the facility may have seen an opportunity to carry out rehabilitation works there.