Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday suspended temporarily all foreign travels for all public officials.
The move is part of measures by Ghana’s government to prevent the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the West African nation.
The ban affects all sector Ministers and their deputies, Regional Ministers and their deputies, all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives, and all Heads of Government Agencies, according to a government statement.
The statement however said only essential and critical foreign travels will be considered and, thereafter, approved by the presidency.
The statement signed by President Akufo Addo’s Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare said the “The directive, together with other measures being put in place by Government, is intended to protect the general public from contracting the virus.”
Ghana has reported of over 30 suspected cases but yet to confirm any case of coronavirus.
Ten African countries have now reported of the deadly coronavirus with total number of confirmed cases so far surpassing 100.
Burkina Faso was the latest African country to report of the virus with two cases.
The patients are a couple, one of whom recently returned from France.
They are currently quarantined in hospital. Burkina Faso becomes the 6th sub-Saharan African country to report positive cases of coronavirus.
Egypt (59), Algeria (20) and Nigeria (2) Tunisia (5), Togo (1), Cameroon (2), Morocco (2), Burkina Faso (2), South Africa (7) and Senegal (4) are the cases so far.
The continent has also recorded its first Coronavirus death in Egypt, where the first case on the continent was also confirmed.
At least 109,578 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, have been reported worldwide as of Monday March 9, 2020.
Source: Africafeeds.com
