Ghana’s parliament was shut down on Tuesday for at least three weeks over a surge in Covid-19 cases among lawmakers and parliamentary staff, reported Reuters.
At least 17 parliament members and 151 supporting staff have been infected with the coronavirus, which had already forced lawmakers to limit their assembly meetings.
Alban Bagbin, the speaker of the house, made the announcement that the legislature will be in recess until March 2 to make way for disinfection and sanitization of the parliament premises.
“Having regard to the upsurge in coronavirus cases in the House … I have, in consultation with leadership, decided that the sitting of the House be suspended for three weeks,” Bagbin announced.
He added that Parliament’s appointments committee would continue to meet to consider the ministerial nominees of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who was re-elected in December.
Last month, President Nana Akufo-Addo warned that coronavirus infection rates were rapidly increasing and threatened to overwhelm Ghana’s health system, part of a second wave of the virus across Africa that has been far more serious than the first. The government has already banned large social gatherings such as funerals, weddings and parties to curb the spread of the virus.
The West African country’s land and sea borders have remained closed to human traffic since March 2020 and beaches, night clubs, cinemas and pubs continue to remain shut.
Ghana has reported 73,003 coronavirus cases, including 482 deaths, since the pandemic began.
In related news, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent crossed 3,681,674 as of Tuesday. The death toll related to the pandemic in Africa stood at 95,535, while a total of 3,207,374 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered from the deadly virus.
Southern Africa is the most affected region in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases, followed by the northern Africa region.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Ethiopia are among the most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases.
