Pharmacist and Lead Consultant for Royal Crown Consult, George Yeboah Kesse says the only way to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus is by imposing a total lockdown.

Speaking on Joy News’ Newsfile Saturday, he said “no country or no region has been able to go through this epidemic without a lockdown. And the lessons are clear to everybody. Its either we lockdown now or we lockdown after 3000 people have died.”

According to Mr. Kesse, the shutdown is necessary because it is the only way to control the transmission of the virus, as against the hygiene protocols introduced by the Ministry of Health.

Thus he called on the government and the general public to begin making adequate preparations towards a lockdown or risk the collapse of existing systems.

“Lockdown is inevitable because that is the only way you can control the transmission of the disease. You cannot control it by washing hands, you cannot control it by hygiene, you can only control it by isolation.

“So it’s either we plan towards a lockdown now or we plan towards a lockdown after our systems have been rundown,” he said.

He, however, advised that the government in collaboration with the private sector work together to find a way to support Ghanaians as they go into the lockdown.

He urged the government to invest all resources to support people who may not be adequately prepared for the process.

“I feel that all our resources now should be put towards supporting people for a lockdown. And this is where I think the government should demonstrate leadership in putting the private sector together to support people for a lockdown.

“We cannot run away from it, we cannot beef up our systems. It’s too late. We cannot build more hospitals, improve our bed capacity, we cannot train more doctors, it’s too late.  All we can do is prevent the transmission and that cannot be done without a lockdown.

“I think we need to start preparing the minds of the public and we should start devoting all our resources towards supporting people in the lockdown,” he said.