Government bans church activities, funerals, other public gatherings

President Akufo-Addo has banned all public gatherings including conference, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies and church activities and related events as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The President in a national address on Sunday said the ban will be in force for the next four weeks.

“I have decided in the interest of public safety and the protection of our population to review the public gathering advisories earlier announced as follows. Firstly, all public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, sporting events and religious activities, such as services in churches and mosques, have been suspended for the next four (4) weeks. Private burials are permitted, but with limited numbers, not exceeding twenty-five (25) in attendance,” the President said.

Coronavirus cases in Ghana

Ghana has so far recorded four more cases of the Coronavirus. This makes a total of six cases.

The development was announced by Director of Public Health at Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie during a press briefing on the current status of the country at the Information Ministry, Sunday, March 15, 2020.

According to him, two more cases, after Thursday's, were confirmed on Friday, March 13, 2020 - one from the Ashanti Region and the other from the Greater Accra Region.

"The first is a 56-year-old Ghanaian who returned from a trip to the United Kingdom on the 4th of March. He stayed in the UK for 10 days. He developed symptoms on the 12th of March and reported to a health facility in Obuasi," said Dr. Sarkodie.

Samples, according to Badu Sarkodie, were taken from him and taken to the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research and the results returned positive.

The second, he noted, is a woman, and a student. She travelled to the United States of America, stayed there for about 10 days and returned to Ghana on the 10th of March.

On the 13th of March, she started showing symptoms that later were confirmed to be compatible with the suspected case of COVID-19.

Samples were taken, taken to Noguchi Memorial Medical Research Institute and emerged positive.

The fifth and sixth cases were recorded on Saturday, late in the afternoon, from the Noguchi Memorial Medical Research.

According to Dr. Sarkodie, the first is a 42-year-old Ghanaian male who returned to Ghana on the 8th of March. He had travelled to Switzerland and the UK in the past 14 days.

Symptoms started on the 9th of March and he reported to the health facility on the 14. After samples were tested, it was confirmed positive.

The second case in this batch was a 41-year-old Ghanaian male. He reported to the Tema General Hospital on the 14th of March with fever and acute respiratory illness. He had travelled to Turkey and Germany within the past 14 days. Results from Noguchi came back positive.

Both cases had no symptoms on arrival.

Dr. Badu however assured that all four cases are stable and under observation. They are receiving treatment under isolation conditions.

"This brings to a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana, there are no deaths and this is the situation as at March 14, 2020. All the 6 cases were imported into Ghana," he added.

Watch the President's address below.