By Stephen Asante
Accra, Feb. 17, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most difficult moments in his presidency.
He said he was alarmed when he saw the news of the outbreak in China because of the interaction between Ghanaians and the Chinese people, especially at the level of trade.
“Immediately, I recognised that there was the need for us to approach this problem systematically, so that we do not get overwhelmed by the epidemic,” the President said when he interacted with students of the Wesley Girls’ Senior High School (SHS) at the Jubilee House, Accra.
The first two COVID-19 cases in Ghana were confirmed on March 12, 2020, and as of July, 2022, some 166,816 infections and 1,456 coronavirus-related deaths had been reported in the country, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
On vaccination, the country’s Health Ministry has administered more than 19,883,528 doses of COVID vaccines so far.
As COVID-19 infections began to be reported around the world, many countries, including Ghana responded by shutting down schools, workplaces and international borders to contain the spread of the virus.
The pandemic came with socio-economic effects on people, with the government implementing various policy measures to contain it.
The measures include personal income tax waivers for frontline and medical personnel, waivers/reduction of utility tariffs, and additional food rations for some beneficiaries of the country’s largest cash transfer programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme (LEAP).
At the same time, strict lockdown measures also meant that schools were closed for the greater part of 2020, and the country’s largest social protection programme, the school feeding programme for children enrolled in public schools, came to a halt.
As expected, hotels and restaurants were affected most severely given the partial lockdown measures and the near halt of (inter)national tourism.
Similarly, services and the manufacturing sectors suffered.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) lauded the Government of Ghana for the efficient manner it handled the spread of the pandemic.
“It is important in leadership that you show that composure, so that when events occur, they can be surmounted and controlled for the people to know that it was not an issue we have to hang our heads and be defeated,” the President noted.
The Wesley Girls’ SHS students were at the Jubilee House on an educational tour.
President Akufo-Addo briefed the visiting students on his career development and urged them to take their studies seriously.
He also explained the governance system to them.
GNA