Coronavirus: The fight is not over yet - Akufo-Addo

The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has told Ghanaian that despite the encouraging results in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, the country is not out of the woods yet.

“… our commonest efforts have been modestly successful in containing the virus and minimizing the spread. Undoubtedly, the decisions taken from day one to act quickly and decisively, and impose what may have seemed as harsh restrictions, have now proven to be effective and saved lots of lives. However, this fight is not yet over and we are by no means out of the woods yet”, he cautioned, urging the citizenry to comply with all the directives and measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus in order to stay safe.

To this end, he said the country’s borders will remained shut until further notice, while announcing an extension of lockdown in Greater Accra Metropolitan areas, Kasoa and Greater Kumasi by one more week.

Ghana’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus has now risen to 378 with six deaths and four recoveries while two are in critical condition. The remaining 370, according to President Akufo-Addo, are on isolation and are either being managed at home or at treatment centers.

Addressing the nation, Thursday evening, in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, the President said “the decision to close down the country’s borders has been justified.

105 of the confirmed cases came from those who are on mandatory quarantine and tested on the arrival in our country on 21st and 22nd March, 2020. 192 of the cases came from travelers who entered the country before the closure and means that 79% of the 378 confirmed cases are thus imported”.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi has facilitated a more aggressive of enhanced contact tracing with the total of 450 teams.

With this, he said 37,405 samples have been taken out of which 31, 933 are in Accra and 5, 472 are in Kumasi.

As at Wednesday, April 8, 2020, a total of 14, 611 contacts of the samples collected have been tested for the virus in Accra and Kumasi, he added.

“For Accra, 11, 308 contacts were tested and 52, i.e. 0.46% were found to be positive. In Kumasi, 3,303 contacts have been tested and 25, i.e. 0.76% have been found to be positive. In total, 77 positive cases were recorded in Accra and Kumasi representing 0.53% of the 14,611 tested. Whilst the results are encouraging with the suggested limited number of positives and community spread, we expect to be able to test some 10,000 additional samples in the coming week to give us a clearer picture to enable us take a decision on the way forward”, President Akufo-Addo noted.