UPDATE: Ghana's number of coronavirus cases has risen from 27 to 53 as at 6:47pm today, March 24, 2020.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu announced to the public that the number of coronavirus cases in Ghana had risen from 27 to 52.
He made this disclosure at a presser in Accra, Tuesday.
The 25 new cases, according to the minister, were confirmed among the 1,030 people who are under mandatory quarantine in the country after arriving at the Kotoka International Airport hours to the deadline for the closure of the country’s borders.
"Out of the 185 test results received, we have 25 of those quarantined tested positive. If you add on to the earlier number of 27, it means we have 53 tested positive in our country at the moment.
"Those in quarantine, we have actually deployed psychologists to have chats with them. We are also in the process of handing them over to our case management teams we have set up. We have started taking them to isolated centers for case management," Mr. Agyemang-Manu said.
Out of the 53 confirmed cases, two persons have died.
On March 18, 2020, information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced that health experts had told government officials that the next two weeks will be critical in Ghana's fight against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to journalists, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said "the health experts tell us that the next two weeks are going to be critical in determining whether or not we are going to get significant community spread. They tell us that the general theory pandemic management is that often it is likely the numbers go up a bit before it curves or 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 and continue to ramp-up are such that we will be able to contain it and hold this virus in check."
Oppong Nkrumah affirmed the government's commitment in ensuring the safety of every citizen by ensuring that all the measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus are adhered to.
Ghana's enhanced response
In his 3rd address to the nation, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 21 announced measures his government has put in place to fight the pandemic.
Among others, he mentioned that "all our borders, that is by land, sea and air, will be closed to human traffic for the next two weeks, beginning midnight on Sunday. Anybody who comes into the country, before midnight on Sunday, will be mandatorily quarantined and tested for the virus. This closure will not apply to goods, supplies and cargo."
"Secondly, the Ministry of Health will not only step up its contact tracing efforts, but will also see to it that all persons who have been identified as having come into contact with infected persons are tested for the virus. More personal protection equipment are being procured to beef up supplies for our frontline health workers. Fifty thousand additional test kits have been ordered, and are expected in the country very shortly."
Day of fasting and prayer
President Akufo-Addo urged all citizens to participate in the national day of fasting and prayer slated for Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
"Let us pray to God to protect our nation and save us from this pandemi," he pleaded.
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