Giving the breakdown, he said there have been six deaths, two in critical condition with four fully recovered.
The President justified the travel restrictions imposed on Ghanaians by the government to limit the importation of the disease by explaining that 79% of the 378 confirmed cases were imported.
“192 of the cases came from travelers who entered the country before the closure of the borders, whilst 105 cases came from those who were mandatory quarantined and tested on their arrival on March 21st and 22nd”, he said.
President Akufo-Addo also hinted that, determination of government’s next line of action on the partial lockdown would be based on about 10,000 tests to be done in the coming week on some of the contacts tracing.
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“So far, 37,405 samples had been tested during the partial lockdown, of which 31,933 were in Accra and 5,472 in Kumasi, and as at Wednesday, April 8, 14,611 contacts of the samples collected had been tested for the virus in Accra and Kumasi”.
There are 450 contact tracing teams currently working in Accra and Kumasi collecting nasal and sputum samples of persons who have come into contact with COVID-19 patients to ascertain their status.
The President also extended the lockdown measure in the 40 localities within Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi Metropolitan areas and the effected districts for one more week starting on 0100 hours of Monday, 30th March.
On reliefs packages for Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo said, the government for the next three months, ie., April, May and June would absorb the electricity bills of lifeline consumers. Those who consume not more than 50 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.
It would pay 50 per cent of the bills of other domestic and commercial consumers, using the March bill as a benchmark, he added.
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The President had earlier on his fifth broadcast to the nation announced free water for all Ghanaians and government would provide communities without pipelines with water tanks.
President Akufo-Addo entreated all Ghanaians to continue observing the safety and hygiene protocols put in place in order to win the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
He expressed his gratitude to the frontline health workers and security personnel for their patriotism and sacrifices towards the fight against the virus.
Concluding his speech, Nana Akufo Addo also thanked international organisations, including the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Jack Ma Foundation, the Chinese and US governments for their show of solidarity in the crisis.
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Source: www.frontpageghana.com/Ghana
