Ghana’s unreadiness for deadly coronavirus showing

The country’s lack of preparedness for the deadly coronavirus is manifesting itself with a warning from the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) to all Nurses and Midwives to leave isolation units if they are not supplied with personal protective equipment by the government.

With reports of untrained health workers, lack of designated health posts for infectious disease centers, non-availability of requisite equipment, including ventilators and protective clothing for medical officers, the Association, urged its members to be on alert in the conduct of their daily routines in light of the outbreak.

People are expecting some effective emergency systems to be rolled out across the country by the government with phone numbers, ambulances, doctors, nurses and other professionals among others, for a quick evacuation to treatment centers, but these have not come forth.

This follows the announcement by government that two cases had been detected in Ghana. The number of people affected in Ghana by the deadly virus nicknamed Covid-19, and classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) are said to be more than two.

The nurses’ warning, comes as some foreign missions in the country, have started shutting down services to its citizens domiciled in Ghana, as well as Ghanaians wishing to visit those countries for one thing or the other.

The warning from the nurses’ association, also comes amid a call from a health economist and policy analyst, Dr. Abena Asomaning Antwi, on the government to implement a multi-sectoral strategy in its quest to combat COVID-19 in the country, adding for government’s fight against the deadly pandemic to be successful, the task should not be left for only the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Health Ministry.

Universities and churches, including the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), have announced measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, at its various assemblies in Ghana.

Of the two cases announced in Ghana, one was said to be from an official of the Norwegian Embassy and the second one a staff of theUnited Nations (UN) office in Ghana. The two cases have led to the shutting down of the two offices.



Nurses and Midwives Association had in a release on Friday, March 13, 2020, said health officials, must ensure that protective gears are made available to the nurses and midwives, who will be on the frontline working in isolation units in the four designated treatment centres for Coronavirus in Ghana.

“Nursing and Midwifery managers must ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are available for use by all nurses and midwives working in the isolation Units in the four designated treatment centers.”

“In the event of unavailability of these logistics at the isolation centres, we strongly advise our nurses and midwives to protect their lives by removing themselves from that environment,” the statement said.

While urging nurses and midwives to carry out their jobs professionally without panic, the Association, said the public must remain calm and follow preventive guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Health.

“We assure our stakeholders that the GRNMA is committed to supporting the national coordinated efforts to identify, manage, contain and prevent the spread of the virus,” the release said.

The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana has been “closed down until further notice”.

This development was revealed in a Twitter post by the Embassy on Saturday, March 14, 2020.

Citing the reason for the shutdown, the Embassy said, “Following the confirmation by the Norwegian Embassy that one of its staff has tested positive for Covid-19, and given that Norwegian and Netherlands Embassies share the same building, the Netherlands Embassy in Ghana is closed down until further notice.”

The Norwegian Embassy in Ghana, shut down its operations last Friday after one of its staff tested positive to coronavirus.

“The Embassy of Norway can confirm that one of our colleagues has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The person is in quarantine and the Embassy is in close dialogue with Ghana Health Service,” the Embassy made the announcement via its Facebook page on Friday, March 13.

“Routine contact tracing has commenced. All staff are also in quarantine, and we are fully committed to assist with containment,” the statement added.

“The Embassy is closed to the public until further notice, but staff are operating from home. We are thankful for the care and assistance offered by Ghana’s health authorities and WHO Ghana, and also for the compassion showed. We urge everybody to follow the preventive measures issued by the WHO and Ghanaian authorities,” the statement added.

In the case of ICGC, a circular issued by the General Secretary, Reverend Morris Appiah, to all pastors provided some guidelines and a short video to be played at all churches “to educate your congregation on the disease”.



Among the precautionary measures contained in the circular, are the suspension of water baptism by immersion and the avoidance of physical contacts, including handshakes and hugs.

Each church has also been directed to provide hand hygiene, including making available sanitisers at entry points.

Jointly used equipment such as microphones, musical instruments and offering baskets are to be sanitized regularly.

Those who count offerings and serve communions are also to do so by wearing gloves.

Washrooms are to be kept clean at all times.

“Pastors should also make sure children and youth churches are included in any measure taken,” the circular noted.

So far, two cases of Covid-19, have been confirmed in Ghana with authorities calling for social distancing.

There are reports that Ghana will be announcing its third case of COVID-19 with the latest sufferer, said to be working with a mining company.

The suspected carrier is said to have returned from a trip to South Africa recently. At the Kotoka International Airport after a trip abroad this week, he flew to Obuasi by helicopter.

According to the sources, upon arrival at the airport, he looked sick and would not allow anyone to even touch his bag.

He, however, reported himself to a health facility in Kumasi, where a series of tests were conducted. He is said to have tested positive.

The sufferer is reportedly under quarantine receiving treatment and undergoing medical observation.

Ghana’s consulate in New York in the United States of America will temporarily suspend its services effective March 16, over the coronavirus pandemic.

In a press release, the consul explained that this is in line with the State of Emergency declared by President Donald Trump and State Governor of New York.

However, to ensure uninterrupted services, the embassy said, “it will continue to provide online services for visa applications, attestation of documents, sale of dual citizenship forms and issuance letters.”

According to the mission, there will be no submission on the counter, directing that all application is mailed to: The General Consulate, 19 East 47 Street, New York, NY 10017.

Also suspended with immediate effect is the issuance of biometric passport applications “to minimise the spread of the disease through person-to-person contact.”

The Ghana consulate in the U.S. said the measures are subject to review as and when it is appropriate to do so.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram Constituency, Samuel Nartey George, has urged his colleague legislators who returned from some Coronavirus-hit countries to subject themselves to medical screening to ensure their safety.

According to him, this will also encourage the public to do same.

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, disclosed that the two imported the virus into the country after returning to Ghana from Norway and Turkey.

“Both individuals returned to Ghana from Norway and Turkey. So these are imported cases of COVID-19,” the Health Minister said.

Speaking to Citi News, Sam George ,who recently returned from the UK, urged the government to put measures in place to allow people to self-report easily.

“We need to institute a measure for self-reporting and one best way we can show an example in leadership is when individuals of the executive and the legislature report themselves to be tested. I have said that I am willing to be tested because I just came back from the UK last Saturday and I know some Members of Parliament who had just come from Norway, Algeria and South Korea in the past week and these are all countries where the virus is extremely infecting people so we need to have members of the executive and the legislature subject themselves to test. This will encourage members of the general public to also submit themselves to test,” he said.

Dr. Abena Asomaning Antwi, wants government to robe in all its Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs).

“I want to see a very clear strategy which is multi-sectorial, it is good to see Ghana Education Service (GES) and GHS working collaboratively, I would want to see what the Agric Ministry is doing.

“I would want to see what the local government is doing in terms of sanitation because we already had our problems in terms of health and now coronavirus has come to add up,” she stated..

The health policy analyst, said for Ghanaians to get the assurance that they are safe in the wake of some recorded cases in the country, government must carry out intensified public education.

According to her, lack of adequate information on the pandemic in the country has made a lot of citizens result in fake news.

“We all know that coronavirus is here so if we do not get the information to feed our anxiety we are going to feed on any information that comes on our path.

“We have some faith-based organisation associating this with spirituality and we have spiritual people and they are going in for that.”

Dr Asomaning Antwi, then advocated that information should be sensitive to women since they are powerful agents of change and take appropriate steps to protect their households from the pandemic. “We need to identify these groups who are powerful who can cause the change we want to see then we can all win this coronavirus problem in a consented manner,” he said.

While confirming the two cases in Ghana, the Health Minister, said laboratory tests from the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, proved that the two individuals had coronavirus.The Ministry said efforts have been put in place for contact-tracing of people who came into contact with the affected patients.

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, subsequently said the two had been in the country for close to a week after they returned from Norway and Turkey.This revelation had caused some fear and panic among Ghanaians.

The Ministry of Health, has designated the Ridge Hospital and the Tema General Hospital, as centres to manage cases of coronavirus.

It said, the move is part of Ghana’s plans to prevent and control any case that may be detected in the country and ultimately protect the Ghanaian population.

In a statement dated Monday, January 27, 2020, the Ministry said it has triggered the country’s emergency preparedness and response plan amidst the rising number of infections from the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in other countries of the world.

The Ministry said Regional Directors must designate treatment centres in their respective regions to deal with cases if they arise.

President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, March 13, 2020, directed the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to make available the cedi equivalent of US$100 million to enhance Ghana’s Coronavirus preparedness and response plan.

To prevent the spread, the standard recommendations coming from the WHO is regular hand washing, covering one’s mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.

People are also advised to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.