Next two weeks critical to Ghana’s coronavirus fight – Gov’t
Government officials have begun a count down on Ghana’s coronavirus fight, explaining the next two weeks could make or break.
Already, the country has recorded seven infections, whiles health experts say they have traced 381 persons who came into contact with the infected.
The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, during the latest government update, said, “the health experts tell us that the next two weeks are critical in determining whether or not we will get significant community spread. They tell us that the general theory in pandemic management is that often, it is likely that the numbers go up a bit before the curve or the situation gets better.
He added, “therefore, they are bracing for the possibility of some limited recordings of more cases in the medium term”.
The minister’s revelation came hours after the Head of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Professor Kwabena Annan, warned the country to brace itself for more cases of the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19.
Coronavirus: Let’s brace for more cases – Head of Noguchi warns
Ghana recorded its seventh covid-19 case on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Health authorities described the latest case as another imported case since he flew from France into the country with the infection.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Aboagye, said the case was detected in the Greater Accra Region and confirmed after further tests at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
The rise in cases of the virus has sparked fears among some Ghanaians who have already started massing up at shopping centres and malls to purchase food supply in the event of a shutdown.
Addressing the media on the latest steps taken by state institutions to contain the spread of the disease, Deputy Controller General In-Charge of operations and command at the Ghana Immigration Service, Laud Ofori-Afrifa, said over 200 foreign nationals had been refused entry into the country.
This was part of the government’s travel restriction on countries which had recorded over 200 cases.
The ban took effect Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
Ghana bans entry of travellers from coronavirus-hit countries