The University of Ghana has cancelled lectures on all its campuses with immediate effect after a student tested positive for novel coronavirus.

A statement signed by the registrar of the school said students and staff who reside outside its “campuses and are currently off-campus should keep away from the campuses until they are asked to return.”

This follows an announcement by Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, that one out of the four new confirmed cases in the country is a student there.

He had in an earlier announcement directed all non-resident students to stay away from the campus as the institution recorded one COVID-19 case.

Confirming the status of the carrier as a student of the institution, Prof. Owusu explained that case is an imported one calling on the student body to refrain from fear or panic.

“A few cases of COVID_19 have been recorded in Ghana including a case involving one of our non-resident students who returned from an international trip. I am using this platform to reach out to all our students and other members of the university community, to reassure you of management’s commitment to ensure measure in the best interest of all,” he said, Sunday.

Emphasising that the cases is an imported one, the Vice-Chancellor revealed that there are ongoing integrated efforts among institutional and national agencies to deal with the development.

“There is no cause to fear since we are pulling all available resources together to ensure better management of the situation,” Prof. Oduro Owusu added.

He also advised students to employ preventive precautions such as “washing of hands under running water, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, covering of the mouth when cough and sneezing into a tissue.

The university community says it will not close "down until contact tracing has been effectively completed.”

The University Hospital and the Students' Clinics have also been designated to screen possible cases of COVID-19.

Read the full statement below: