Ghana has confirmed two more new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing to nine, the total cases recorded in the country within a week.
“Unfortunately we have confirmed two more cases overnight,” Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced Thursday morning on Twitter.
All the nine cases as well as suspected cases, he said, are being managed by health officials.
Covid-19 Update
Unfortunately we have confirmed two more cases overnight. Ghana’s case count is now at 9. Health services are still managing all suspected and confirmed cases well.— Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (@konkrumah) March 19, 2020
The two new cases are also imported, as was the case in the previous seven cases.
President Nana Akufo-Addo speaking later at a breakfast prayer meeting at the Jubilee House in Accra Thursday where some Christian leaders and pastors have gathered, said Ghana is lucky to count itself as one of the countries least hit by the deadly virus.
“With 9 confirmed cases of infections, we might as well count ourselves lucky as one of the countries least hit by the Coronavirus,” he stated.
No coronavirus death has been recorded in Ghana so far.
Who are the two?
One is a 56-year-old man, a Ghanaian who travelled back to Accra from a trip to UK about a week ago, the Ghana Health Service posted on its coronavirus tracking website on Thursday.
The other is a 33-year-old Ghanaian, who also returned to Accra from a conference in United Arab Emirates.
“Both cases are receiving treatment in isolation,” it added.
Global crisis
Some 220,000 confirmed cases of the covid-19 pandemic have been recorded globally with over 8,800 deaths.
Although Africa is the least affected continent with some 16 deaths, the World Health Organisation is warning Africans to prepare for the worst.
It said strained public health systems could become quickly overwhelmed as is the case in some parts of Asia and Europe where some countries have been placed on lockdown as a result of rising number of new cases.
But government has taken a series of measures including a ban on social gatherings for the next four weeks, closure of schools and a ban on non-citizens from countries worst hit by the global pandemic from entering Ghana.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana