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Dr Patrick Ansah, the Head of the Clinical Science Department of the Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC has urged the people of the area to distance themselves from their returnee relatives arriving from the cities.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Navrongo, Dr Ansah who is also a member of the Kassena/Nankana Municipal COVID – 19 emergency response team, said it was important for the returnees not to mingle with people in the community until after 14days, to help control the spread of the virus.

President Akufo Addo on Friday announced a partial Lockdown of Accra, kasoa, Tema and Kumasi beginning from Monday and that made some people from the regions of the North who do not have permanent places of abode in the cities to go back to their various communities in order to escape the lockdown.

Since last Sunday, many people arriving from the cities to the Kassena Nankana area and the Upper East Region in general settle with family members as it had been in the past when there was no pandemic.

That, Dr Ansah said was worrying and urged the people of the area to distance themselves from the returnees as a way of protecting their lives and that of their families. “They are our people, so am not saying that we should reject them but we should ask them to isolate themselves for the good of all of us”.

He further called on the people to stay within the confines of their communities and observe the preventive measures issued by the COVID-19 team to help stop the spread.

Dr Ansah asked the traditional authority in the area to help the health directorate by calling on the citizens to adhere to the precautionary measures, “in this area people respect the chiefs so much and whatever the chief says, people will take it. I will call on them to let their community members understand that, when they isolate their relatives who have just returned home, it would be good for their families and the community”.

He asked community members not to hesitate to call the emergency numbers issued by the Emergency response team should they experience any signs and symptoms of the disease as issued by the Ghana health service.