Epidemic
viral pandemic in Ghana
The COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first two cases in Ghana were confirmed on 12 March 2020, when two infected people arrived in Ghana, one from Norway and the other from Turkey.
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Text from the Wikipedia article “COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first two cases in Ghana were confirmed on 12 March 2020, when two infected people arrived in Ghana, one from Norway and the other from Turkey.
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness that affected a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China. This was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel COVID-19 a pandemic.
Some of the highlights of events over the months after Ghana recorded its first case are mentioned below.
This month saw the first confirmed cases and an initial response from Ghana's government. Joint meetings among major stakeholders were conducted as well as training sessions organised for teachers and other professionals on how to handle suspected COVID-19 cases. Measures instituted by the President of Ghana on 15 March 2020 included bans on school activities and all social gatherings, and a temporary lockdown and restrictions of the movements of people in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions of Ghana.
Greater Accra, Ashanti and Upper West regions recorded cases in the month of March. At an emergency press briefing on 12 March 2020, Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu announced Ghana's first two confirmed cases (in Accra). The two cases were people who returned to the country from Norway and Turkey which made them the first actual cases of COVID-19 in Ghana. These two cases initiated the first contact tracing process in Ghana. Of the first two cases reported in Ghana, one case was a senior officer at the Norwegian Embassy in Ghana who had returned from Norway; while the other was a staff member at the United Nations (UN) offices in Ghana who had returned from Turkey.
By the end of the month, there had been 152 confirmed cases, 5 deaths, and 22 recovered patients, leaving 125 active cases going into April.
Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo began delivering a series of state of the nation addresses concerning COVID-19 in March by announcing that the cedi equivalent of US$100 million would be made available to enhance Ghana's coronavirus preparedness and response plan. Parliament passed the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) National Trust Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1013) which set up a fund to receive and manage contributions and donations from individuals, groups and corporate bodies to support in the fight against the virus.
Initially, the Government of Ghana banned all public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, church activities and other related events to reduce the spread of the virus. Beaches were also closed. Basic schools, senior high schools and universities, both public and private, were also closed. Only Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination candidates were permitted to remain in school under social distancing protocols.
Traveling to Ghana from countries which had recorded over 200 positive COVID-19 cases was strongly discouraged with non-admittance of such travellers; this restriction did not however apply to Ghanaian citizens and people with resident permits.
All of the country's borders were later closed for two weeks from midnight of Sunday 22 March 2020. Passport services were also suspended.
On 30 March, the partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi took effect. Members of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary; and some services such as those that were involved in the production, distribution and marketing of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, medicine, paper and plastic packages, media and telecommunications were exempted from the restrictions.
The Local Government Minister announces the disinfection of 137 markets in the Greater Accra Region.
On 26 March, 64 new cases were recorded increasing Ghana's case count to 132. On the same day, a letter written and signed by the director general of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye recalled all staff on study leave into active service. This was to help accommodate the workload on health centres. A special life insurance cover for the professionals at the frontline dealing with the pandemic, was announced by the Ghana Health Ministry. The workers were insured under Group Life cover, with an assured sum of GHC 350,000 on each life.
For details see Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.
During the month of April cases increased to 2,074 at the end of the month. Cases were confirmed in most of the regions of Ghana, with some coming from those entering via unapproved routes along the Ghana-Togo border. There were twelve more deaths in April, bringing the death toll to 17.
There were several disinfection exercises of markets in the Northern, North East and Savannah regions as well as the Eastern Region. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development teamed up with Moderpest Company and Zoomlion Ghana for the exercise.
At a press briefing, the director-general of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, reiterated President Nana Akufo-Addo's announcement to the commencement of local production of nose masks as part of efforts to arrest the spread of the pandemic.
The GES and ZGL also joined forces to launch an initiative to fumigate all senior high, special and technical schools in the country to curb the spread of the pandemic.
The border closure was extended by the president, for another two week effective midnight of Sunday 5 April 2020.
Mandatory use of masks was to be enforced by businesses and organizations.
For details see Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.
The hotspots identified were in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central Regions. In Greater Accra, the Tema Metropolitan, Accra Metropolitan, Klottey Korle and Kpong Katamanso districts recorded the highest tallies with Tema taking the top position, followed by the Ablekuma, Okaikwei South and North, Ashiaman and Adenta areas as well as the Ga Central townships. In the Ashanti Region, Obuasi had the highest figures followed by Kumasi, Oforikrom, and Nkawie. Other areas were Old Tafo, Asokwa, Kumasi Municipal, Kumasi Metropolis and Suame which has high numbers as well. Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abbrem (KEEA) District, Cape Coast, and Ajumako are the districts with the high numbers in the Central Region.
695 persons tested positive at a fish-processing factory in Tema after a worker contracted the virus and infected over 500 workers there in a widely reported case of a super-spreader. All 1,300 staff of the company were tested, yet 95 percent of the affected persons recorded a first negative test.
On 29 May 2020, 50 workers at the Jubilee Field operated by Tullow Oil were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus.
There were 5,807 new cases in May, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 7,881. The death toll more than doubled to 36. There were 2,629 recoveries in May, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 2,841 and leaving 5,004 active cases at the end of the month.
For details see Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.
For details see Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.
Text from the Wikipedia article “COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.