President Akufo-Addo has expressed concern about the country’s preparedness to deal with the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

He is, therefore, urging banks in the county to make money available to the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana to enable them produce some of the essential things for protection against the virus.

“The Governor and some of the bankers know my constant refrain about the difficulties people go through to have access to money in Ghana.

Interest rates are unnecessarily high in my view and there is a need for us to work together to see how the banking sector under his (Governor) leadership, which is becoming stronger and stronger, can find a way of channeling money and resources to some of you here so you can be able to do things for our health system,” the President said. 

At a meeting with players in the pharmaceutical industry, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and other key partners, President Akufo-Addo said the presence of the virus in the country should be a wake-up call to start producing drugs for local consumption.

According to him, the unfortunate situation presents an opportunity for the local industry.

“Our country, our economy, our society is too dependent on foreign-made things. We should be making most of the things that we use here in Ghana and I am saying what is happening to us with this crisis is an opportunity. It has very big consequences but it’s also an opportunity.   

“I called you here for all of us to put our brains and hearts together to see the way forward for the future. Whatever decisions are made today are not going to transform the situation now but it will be putting in the building blocks, a platform for transformation tomorrow,” he stressed.

Coronavirus cases in Ghana jump to 6

Meanwhile, there are now, officially, six coronavirus cases in Ghana, according to the Ghana Health Service.

This means that from the time the first two cases were made public the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana has increased by 200%. Five of the cases are all Ghanaians with one foreigner, a Norwegian. 

The Ghanaians had returned from the United States, the UK and the United States. They are all in quarantine and in stable condition, according to the Ghana Health Service. 

At the news conference on Sunday afternoon, the Information Minister also announced certain travel advisories and restrictions. 

For example, individuals arriving in Ghana from countries with more than 200 cases of coronavirus will be required to self-isolate for at least 14 days. Those who cannot self-isolate on their own will be quarantined by the state, the minister announced. 

The health authorities are also conducting contact tracing for more than 200 people who might have come into contact with the six cases so far recorded in the country.