No COVID-19 death in Ghana for five weeks- GHS
Ghana has not registered any new COVID-19 fatality for the fifth straight week since relaxing pandemic restrictions.
Currently, the country’s active cases have dropped significantly from a little over 1,000 in February to 34 as at 7 April.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) reports that the country’s total confirmed cases increased to 161,071, out of which 159, 592 have recovered.
So far there are no severe and critical cases, according to GHS. Cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are 7,621 with 7,620 recoveries so far.
Case update
Greater Accra Region – 90,723
Ashanti Region – 22,298
Western Region – 8,327
Eastern Region – 7,036
Volta Region – 6,016
Central Region – 5,402
Bono East Region – 2,970
Bono Region – 2,332
Northern Region – 1,863
Upper East Region – 1,735
Ahafo Region – 1,136
Western North Region – 1,112
Oti Region – 930
Upper West Region – 895
North East Region – 384
Savannah Region – 291
Our management of COVID-19 has been exemplary
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the country’s management of the COVID-19 outbreak has been exemplary.
Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Wednesday (30 March), Akufo-Addo said, “The management of our COVID-19 has been exemplary. By the grace of the Almighty, we have saved lives.
“I took the decision we would prioritise the saving of lives, and then we would get together to rebuild our economy. Nobody imagined the devastation would be so widespread and last so long,” he said.
“We had to learn some very hard lessons, and our belief in the need to be self-sufficient was reinforced when vaccine nationalism was played out blatantly by the rich and powerful countries.”
Vaccine manufacture
President Akufo-Addo also said the government has taken steps to ensure that vaccines are produced locally.
“Mr Speaker, the Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, which I set up to respond to this obvious deficiency, has put in place a comprehensive strategy for domestic vaccine production, and the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to implement the strategy, which will enable us to begin the first phase of commercial production in January 2024,” he said.
“A bill will shortly be brought to you, in this House, for your support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.”
Agenda 111
The president also described the timelines given for completion of the governments Agenda 111 projects as ambitious.
“This pandemic exposed other shortcomings of our country, which have, undoubtedly, contributed to the anxieties that have befallen the nation. Agenda 111 was born out of this necessity to address some of these shortcomings.
“At the normal rate of growth, we are not likely to make up the deficit in our health facilities infrastructure for a very long time. Hence, the need for a special, dedicated programme of infrastructural development,” he said.
Akufo-Addo announced that identifying appropriate locations around the country to site the projects has proved more difficult than anticipated, but said he is determined to complete the programme before he leaves office in 2025.
“We are undertaking the construction of 111 entities, which comprise standard 100-bed district hospitals in 101 districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions; the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region; one new regional hospital for the Western Region; and three psychiatric hospitals for each of the three zones of the country, ie, North, Middle and Coastal,” he said.
