Ghana earmarks $100 million to fight coronavirus

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that $100 million will be allocated to improve the plan on preparedness and response to the coronavirus.

He, therefore, ordered the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to make available the cedi equivalent of $100 million. According to a report published on the President’s official website, this amount, according to the Akufo-Addo, “is intended to finance the expansion of infrastructure, the purchase of materials and equipment and public education”.

In an address to the nation on Wednesday, 11 March 2020, the President explained that with the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of coronavirus disease as a “pandemic”, it is vital that Ghana is intensifying its preparation to ensure the readiness beyond the initial measures that were put in place. A “whole Ghana” approach is adopted in anticipation of a possible impact within the country’s borders.

Already, all of Ghana’s neighboring countries, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, have recorded confirmed cases of infection and countries such as Italy, with a sizeable Ghanaian population, have intensified their response to the outbreak.

Ghana’s entry points, such as its airports and land borders, will continue to show satisfactory preparation to screen all entrants into the country, President Akufo-Addo said, with the Ministry of Health designating a quarantine facility that can hold infected persons. At the same time, regional hospitals have prepared isolation centers for the detention of suspected cases.