Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday announced that the country’s Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has contracted the novel coronavirus and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, reported Reuters.
“Let us wish our hardworking minister for health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, a speedy recovery from the virus, which he contracted in the line of duty,” Akufo-Addo said in a state broadcast on Sunday night, while giving an update on the pandemic situation in Ghana.
The health minister became the latest Ghanaian government official to have tested positive for the virus. The president also announced the death of Kobina Sam, mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi, due to COVID-19 related complications.
Akufo-Addo confirmed that final year students in secondary schools and universities would resume classes from Monday as Ghana continues with its phased lifting of restrictions that were put imposed in order to curb the pandemic.
The president urged the people of Ghana to follow through the efforts made to control the spread of the virus adding that they should adhere to the health protocols. He also appealed people to not stigmatise recovered patients, adding that the stigma undermines the fight against the virus.
Ghana has reported 11,964 positive coronavirus cases so far, one of the highest in the region. The West African nation has also carried out one of the highest number of tests in the continent at 254,331 and has one of lowest number of deaths from the virus.
Akufo-Addo said with 54 deaths reported thus far in Ghana, the ratio of deaths to positive cases is currently at 0.4% as compared to the African average of 2.6% and the global average of 5.5%.
According to the latest data by the John Hopkins University and Africa Center for Disease Control on COVID-19 in Africa, there are now more than over 220,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the continent.
