The Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle is receiving treatment at the Ga East Treatment and Isolation Centre in Accra after testing positive for COVID-19.
This was confirmed in a personal short video he shared on social media.
“I just thought of sending this message out to those of you who are my loved ones. At least it will let you know, I have survived it for five days, and therefore I encourage anybody who is afflicted not to be afraid because, yes COVID-19 is real but healing is equally real if we will do the best”, the Catholic Priest said in the video he posted on Saturday from the facility’s recovery garden.
In what he described as the three P’s, he urged the entire citizenry to make use of “Prayer, Protocols and Prayer”, as a means of combating the spread of the virus.
“My advice is what I call the three Ps; Prayer, Protocols and Prayer and you can add two more to it- protocols and prayer, so it becomes five Ps”, he admonished.
He also advised Ghanaians to as a matter of concern remember frontline health workers in their daily prayers as they lead the country’s enhanced measures to fight against the pandemic.
“Let us continue praying, thanking God for the doctors, the nurses, the front line workers and the great good job they are doing. They are really stretched out and stressed out. They need our prayerful support, love and concern for themselves and anything God can help them to do”.
Local transmission in Ghana
Today, the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana revealed that the new COVID-19 strain from the United Kingdom is currently driving new local infections in Ghana.
WACCBIP arrived at this conclusion through its January sequencing of samples from its sites across the country.
“Data shows clearly that B.1.1.7 (first reported in the UK) is now the predominant strain driving local transmission in Ghana,” Director of the WACCBIP, Dr. Gordon Awandare said in a Facebook post.
This new variant, which is also known as B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2, is one of a few mutated strains of the virus which scientists say could be more contagious and is fast-spreading in about 70 countries worldwide.
In the meantime, there are currently 6,095 COVID-19 active cases in Ghana.
Nine more people have succumbed to the virus, putting the death toll at 449 while cumulative infections stand at 70,046 with 63,502 recoveries/discharges.
