Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia will this morning have Muslims clerics, Imams and Zongo Leaders join him at the Jubilee House to seek Allah’s intervention following the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The meeting with the Muslim leaders comes a day after a similar one held between President Nana Akufo-Addo and Christian Leaders in Ghana.
Ghana has so far recorded 11 cases of COVID-19 but no death.
The figure according to health experts may go up in the coming days.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said predictions by health experts are that the number of cases may shoot up within the next two weeks before a likely decline of the spread of the disease.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah assured that the authorities have expressed readiness for any impending case and therefore called on Ghanaians to be calm and take precautionary measures seriously.
“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 of pandemic management is that, often the numbers are likely to go up a bit before the situation gets better. Therefore, they are bracing for the possibility of some limited recordings of more cases in the medium term but they continue to assure us that, the systems they are putting together are such that we are able to control it and hold this virus in check,” he said.
Nine out of the 11 cases so far recorded are Ghanaians. The other two include a Norwegian and a Lebanese.
Contact-tracing figure now 399
The Ghana Health Service website dedicated to updating Ghanaians on the outbreak in the country had captured that 399 contacts had been identified as persons who came into contact with the first six affected patients.
“With regards to contact tracing, a total of 399 contacts have been identified and are being followed up. Nineteen (19) of the contacts developed some forms of symptoms and samples were taken for laboratory testing,” the website stated.
WHO’s recommendation to Africa
The World Health Organization has advised African countries to prepare for the worst.
Africa has recorded 600 COVID-19 cases in 42 countries with 4 deaths.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom earlier called on Africa to double up its preparation.
“So the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today. Its actually better if the numbers are really true to cut from the bud and that’s why we are saying, we have to do the testing, we have to do the contact tracing and we have to the isolation and cut it from the bud. The most important thing is that most gatherings should be avoided and I think Africa should wake up.”
