Ghana’s fastest growing television channel, Citi TV, has rolled out a plan to fumigate campuses of selected Universities in the Greater Accra Region, in partnership with waste management firm, Zoomlion.
The Corporate Social Responsibility initiative by the company; seeks to keep the campuses safe and clean for use when academic work resumes; as schools are on forced break as part of government’s measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The beneficiary institutions are the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies, UPSA, Central University and Pentecost University.
Managing Director of Citi FM and Citi TV, Samuel Attah-Mensah, says the gesture is in response to the President’s call on all and sundry to support the fight against the pandemic, which has claimed over 87,000 lives globally in 205 countries and territories, out of more than 1.4 million cases.
Mr. Attah-Mensah explained that the exercise will come at no cost to the schools.
This comes not long after government carried out a massive fumigation exercise to disinfect markets and bus terminals across the country.
COVID-19 cases in Ghana
Ghana’s COVID-19 case count stands at 313, with the death toll moving from five to six as of Wednesday, April 8, 2020, whiles recovery stands at three.
Although Ghana’s fatality rate is generally low; there are concerns the numbers could increase, as government carries out some sort of mass testing and surveillance within communities.
Nearly 20,000 people are being tested; after samples from over 7,000 people, came out with only 14 testing positive.
205 of the affected persons in Ghana are responding well to treatment according to the Ghana Health Service, whereas nearly 50 others have been discharged from health facilities to undergo home management before they would be declared fully fit.
Only two of Ghana’s affected persons are currently considered moderately ill.
Over 900 people who were part of a 1,030 travelers forced into mandatory quarantine after Ghana closed its borders, have been sent home after they completed the quarantine and tested negative.
So far, seven regions out of the 16 have all recorded cases, with Greater Accra being the highest with 274; Ashanti Region has 25 cases, Northern Region has 10, whereas Eastern, Upper West, Upper East and Central Region have one case each.
Ghana is in the second week of a two-week partial lockdown in Tema, Kasoa, Kumasi and Accra, coupled with the closure of schools and a ban on all public gatherings for four weeks.
The President has however extended Ghana’s border closure by two more weeks, and has hinted that a decision would be taken this week on whether the partial lockdown would be extended or not.