Ghanaians have ben asked to observe personal hygiene and also stop shaking hands, as well as cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze, to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease.
“The recommendations are for each one of us to practice basic, personal hygiene, and be extra careful with sanitation. For the time being, as the Ministry of Health has advised, we have to revisit our custom of shaking hands, and stop doing so completely, and we must cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze,” President Akufo-Addo said on Friday at the 63rd Independence Day celebration.
Whilst praying that “the Almighty continues to shield us”, the President told the nation that the time has come for all to pay attention to the health experts, and reject all fraudulent claims for cures that will only threaten public health and safety.
“Please listen to, and take seriously, the public education messages being put out by the public health authorities, and I urge the churches, mosques, traditional authorities, civil society organisations and opinion leaders all to join in helping to keep Ghana safe,” he said.
Epidemic
He described the disease as a medical crisis that is bringing in its wake deaths and economic difficulties, and is spreading fear and panic throughout the world.
In order to adequately prepare for the disease in case it gets to Ghana, the President revealed that, in the early days of the outbreak, he constituted, on February 7, a high-powered emergency response team to handle the crisis.
The team, he said, has been monitoring developments and reporting to him on a daily basis.
President Akufo-Addo again added that strict checks at Ghana’s entry points are being conducted, with rigorous screening procedures.
“Isolation and treatment centres have been designated for potential cases, and a quarantine centre has been set up. Five thousand personal protective equipment for health workers have been procured and distributed to all regions and major health facilities, points of entry, teaching hospitals, treatment centres and selected health facilities,” he said.
More measures in place
Furthermore, the President told the gathering that additional protective health equipment are being procured, together with the ongoing training of health workers in the treatment of the disease.
“In the interim, non-essential travel into Ghana is being strongly discouraged from high risk countries, namely China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea. We are counting on the experts to do their part to safeguard us, but we all have a responsibility to take measures to help ourselves and each other,” he said.
In appreciating the active collaboration being offered by the global health authority, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and by friends of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo assured: “Government, on its part, is determined to do whatever is necessary, including providing the requisite resources, to ensure the safety of the population.”
Togo confirms first case
Meanwhile, Togo, has registered its first case of the coronavirus, its government said on Friday.
The patient is a 42-year old female resident of the capital, Lome, who had visited Benin, Germany, France and Turkey in late February and early March.
She is being treated in isolation and her condition is stable, the government said in a statement.
This brings to five the number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa which have recorded the disease. They include Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon and South Africa.
More than 100,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus disease globally, according to Johns Hopkins University, with at least 3,015 deaths in China and 267 fatalities in other parts of the globe, most of whom were in Italy and Iran.
SOURCE: Daily Statesman
