The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu says the Government of Ghana does not intend evacuating its citizens from China.
This comes after calls have intensified for government to consider evacuating Ghanaian nationals from Wuhan, China where the virus is severely hit.
Globally, nearly 500 people have lost their lives to the virus with more than 24,000 people being infected with coronavirus across 25 countries.
The new coronavirus outbreak has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.
“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
But Ghana’s Health Minister during a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, February 4 announced: “for now government is not and does not intend evacuating its nationals.”
According to the Minister, government is also not considering a ban on travels from Corona hit countries.
He stated that government has allocated ¢2.5 million to initiate the implementation of response and preparedness plans towards the Coronavirus.
“The allocation of the amount comes after the WHO warned that Africa stands a high risk of spreading of the disease due to its vulnerable population.”
“Government is making arrangements to secure an insurance cover for all front line workers who will be attending to Coronavirus related cases in the occurrence of an outbreak in the country.”
