By Frank Amponsah
President Akufo Addo yesterday paid a working visit to Kotoka International Airport, Tema General Hospital and the Ridge Teaching Hospital in Accra to check measures put in place by the health authorities to help check the deadly coronavirus disease.
The Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company, Mr. Yaw Kwakwa, assured the President of the Republic Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and by extension the Ghanaian people that the Kotoka International Airport is ready to deal with any threat posed by covid 19, the coronavirus that is currently sweeping through the world.
According to him, passengers arriving at the airport are subjected to by way of checks to ascertain their health status.
“we are well prepared to deal with the coronavirus issue through every international standard” Mr. Yaw Kwakwa said.
Visit of the President:
On the visit of the President, Mr. Kwakwa said it was to afford the first gentle of the land an opportunity to know at first hand the level of preparedness of the airport in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
“From what he said when he was getting into his car, he is very satisfied that we have put in place measures along international guidelines to make sure that the country is well protected against the coronavirus” Mr. Kwakwa stated.
Potential Case:
He further noted that so far, the airport has not recorded any case of coronavirus but they have had two threats of passengers with temperatures about normal. The individuals involved he added were quarantined and Covid 19 test have been runned on them which came out as negative.
President Screened:
President Akufo-Addo in order to validate the system subjected himself to the process by checking his temperature. He recorded a normal temperature that poses no threat whatsoever.
IDI Centres Ready For Coronavirus
President Akufo-Addo after the tour of the airport visited the infectious Disease Isolation Centres at the Tema General hospital and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ridge which were built in 2015 during the Ebola outbreak.
Briefing the media after taking the President on a tour of the facility at Ridge, Dr. Emmanuel Srofenyoh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ridge Hospital indicated that some seventeen cases have been tested for the Covid 19 coronavirus and all of them have come out negative. One fresh case he said has just been carried out on an airline operator who has international travel history and they are awaiting the results of same. The Isolation centre he added is fully equipped to handle cases of coronavirus in the event that Ghana records one.
Covid 19 Around the World
Authorities worldwide have confirmed more than 92,000 cases of the virus of which more than 80,000 are in China. More than 3,000 people have died globally, the vast majority in China. The worst-hit country outside China remains South Korea where as at today Wednesday the 4th of March 2020, reported 516 new confirmed infections, bringing the total to 5,328. The country’s death toll stands at 33.
