Author: Krobea

The Nigerian who escaped from self-isolation in Wa on Thursday, April 16 has been arrested, 3news.com can confirm. Simon Okafor Chukudi, 46, escaped from his Wapaani residence after being informed of his status on Monday. He is one of seven persons who had tested positive for the viral disease in the Upper West Region. Residents had hinted that he was hiding in or around Saamabo, a village between Ga and Ponyentanga on the Wa-Kumasi highway. The Upper West Regional Police Command immediately launched a manhunt for him. On Friday, our regional correspondent, Yakubu Abdul-Gafur, said the Command arrested him in…

The Ghana Police Hospital has announced a mass burial of unclaimed and unidentified bodies within the next two weeks in a move to decongest its morgue. A statement issued by the Head of Public Affairs of the Hospital, DSP Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, on Friday, April 17, 2020 has therefore called on families to get in touch with the hospital for arrangements to have bodies released to them. According to the statement, though there is a ban on funerals, families who sign an undertaking to comply with existing protocols of organizing private burials are permitted to come for bodies. “Such gathering should…

Former Barcelona and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has said he will distribute supplies to 100,000 people to help support efforts to combat coronavirus in his home country. Eto’o runs a foundation in the country and has promised that it will be used to “share soaps, sanitisers and several food items to fifty thousand households in four cities – Douala, Buea, Yaoundé and Bafoussam.” An additional 50,000 protective face masks will also be supplied – specifically for taxi drivers in the country. “This is a serious humanitarian crisis and only via proper sanitisation and the distribution of health kits can we…

Taking the world by storm, Nana Tafregya Pallbearers in recent times have earned headlines on various news platforms including BBC. Exercising adroit skills in what they do, these pallbearers are lifting the mood at funerals in Ghana with flamboyant coffin-carrying dance forms, causing families to increasingly pay for their services in sending their loved ones off in grand style. The founder and leader of this group, Benjamin in a phone interview with Giovani Caleb on the 3FM Drive Thursday hinted that their charges will shoot up after the coronavirus pandemic. The group’s rate card varies from all black to all…

We are facing great uncertainty on the African continent. The global spread of COVID-19 and the rising number of coronavirus cases in Africa are fueling anxiety about negative economic growth, failing healthcare and collapsing food systems. We are already grappling with a locust outbreak in the Horn of Africa, drought and flood extremes due to climate change and increasing food importation costs  of more than $47 billion in 2019. The convergence of all these sets the stage for an imminent food crisis –  unless measures are taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Consider also that the U.S. dollar…

Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has tested for coronavirus. This could be part of a measure by government to have all appointees tested for the novel viral disease, which has so far claimed eight lives in Ghana. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his family underwent the tests last month, a day before his birthday. Results were negative. Staff of his office, numbering 98, also underwent tests. Akufo-Addo tests for coronavirus Government appointees were also rostered to undergo tests in order to clear them, especially those who lead the fight against coronavirus. On Thursday, writing in the Financial Times, Mr…

The Acting Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr Clifford Braimah, says despite government making the consumption of water free for the next three months, the move will be at a cost. “There is no free lunch anywhere,” he stressed. Dr Braimah made this known on Thursday, April 16 when he assumed the hot seat on TV3’s Hot Issues with Johnnie Hughes. As part of mitigating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Ghanaians in the face of the call on all to stay home, government decided to absorb water bills from April to June. “Government will…

Africa could become the next epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. There was a sharp rise in cases in the past week. There have been almost 1,000 deaths and more than 18,000 infections across Africa so far, although these rates are far lower than those seen in parts of Europe and the US. The WHO says the virus appears to be spreading away from African capitals. It has also highlighted that the continent does not have enough ventilators to deal with a pandemic. The organisation’s Africa director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, told the BBC that…

In a candid diary, Ghana’s finance minister explains how he is tackling the looming crisis. It’s 5am and I stir. My stomach feels cramped. I have slept no more than four hours. My mind races. The problems cascade through. I hear the birds and do my meditation. My wife Angie and I are in the middle of an Easter study on the Book of Daniel, and I can’t help but think of the writing on the wall: “mene mene tekel upharsin.” Have we been weighed and found wanting? But I am optimistic there will be a few who will stand…

One of the patients with coronavirus in self-isolation in the Upper West Region capital of Wa has escaped, 3news.com has gathered. It is unclear the circumstances under which the patient, whose name has been given as Simon Okafor Chukudi, a Nigerian, escaped from his residence in Wapaani, a suburb of Wa. This comes weeks after another victim, a Guinean, escaped from an isolation centre in the Northern Region. She is still at large. The Upper West Region has so far recorded seven out the 641 confirmed coronavirus cases in the country. He immediately went into self-isolation after he was confirmed…