Ghana’s Ministry of Health has been allotted an amount of USD 100 million to help prepare and contain an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), President Akufo-Addo disclosed in an address on Wednesday.
Although all 57 suspected cases have been confirmed negative, the President said its imperative that the country steps up its preparedness to ensure it adopts what he calls “a whole of Ghana approach” in fighting the global plague.
“The Minister for finance has made available USD 100 million to enhance our coronavirus preparedness and response plan, that is to fund the expansion of infrastructure and purchase materials and equipment, and public education.”
His address comes after Ivory Coast registered its first case of the virus on Wednesday. The development means all of Ghana’s neighboring countries have recorded at least a case of the novel virus.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has declared the worldwide outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic, with more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths.
“We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday