After three weeks, Ghana is lifting the coronavirus lockdown in its two biggest cities, Accra and Kumasi starting 1 AM local time on Monday Apr. 20. A lockdown of the two worst affected metropolitan areas had been in place since Mar. 30, 2020.

However there has been a mixed reaction to the new development in that West African country.

Some say Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has taken a risky move, noting that the country has confirmed more than 1,000 known cases of coronavirus.

However, low-income earners such as street traders, have welcomed the lifting of the restrictions - they would have found it difficult to feed their families if it had continued.

But in recent days some health experts had been calling for the lockdown to be extended and even widened across the country.

The official data shows that the African continent is still the least affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

South Africa is the worst hit with more than 3,000 cases, but all countries are facing difficult decisions on whether to impose severe restrictions in order to try to limit the spread of the virus.

In Kenya, where there are far fewer cases than in Ghana, the authorities have copied South Africa's decision to impose severe restrictions.

That's hitting the poorest the hardest - especially people in towns and cities.

Predicting the future impact of the virus in Africa is still impossible so no-one can definitively say which decision is the right one.

SOURCE:BBC