Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday lifted targeted lockdown on two major regions in the country citing improved testing for the coronavirus across the country.

In the over half-an-hour address delivered to the nation, Akufo-Addo also announced that Ghana’s tally of infection cases had surpassed 1,000.

“Indeed Ghana is the only other country in Africa to have conducted more than 60,000 tests and we are ranked number one in Africa in administering of tests per million people. The decision to impose restrictions on movement was backed by the data at hand and our next course of action is backed by data and by science,” the president said.

According to him, Ghana has traced 86,000 contacts so far; 68,500 of the number have since been tested while 18,000 test results are being expected. He also said that 1,042 cases have been confirmed as at April 19.

Of the 68,500 tests so far made, 67,549 (98.5%) tested negative while 930 people are responding to treatment at home or government facilities.