The Deputy Health Minister says there is no need to panic following the confirmation of coronavirus cases in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo.

Alexander Abban while speaking to Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo in Parliament said Ghana’s health officials are on high alert and the necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that the country is safe.

“It is a concern to us and it is our prayer that we don’t record a single case but should that be, I believe we have put in place enough measures to contain any incidence of that disease in the country.

“I would like to implore all Ghanaians to calm their nerves, nobody should panic, we have put in place a lot of mechanisms to ensure that we immediately detect and contain any case that may occur,” the Deputy Minister said.

As countries across the world scramble to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19, stringent measures such as the quarantine of entire populations - in China’s Wuhan province - the epicenter of the outbreak and as is being done in Italy - have been resorted to by governments.

So far, there have been 114, 544 confirmed cases with 4,026 deaths. Some 64, 032 people as of March 10 have recovered from the disease.

Eleven African countries Algeria, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo have reported nearly 100 coronavirus cases, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

With Burkina Faso and Togo's close proximity to Ghana and the porousness of the country’s borders, many Ghanaians fear it’s just a matter of time before the disease shows up.

But the Deputy Minister says everything is under control.

According to him, management of all regional and teaching hospitals in the country have been briefed and asked to prepare holding rooms and treatment centres which would be completely isolated, for use.

At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where health officials have fled on all the occasions that suspected cases have been taken there, Mr Abban said those incidences have served as wake up calls for the Health Ministry and steps have been taken to prevent that from reoccurring.

“So please, everybody should calm down,” he said and also called on Ghanaians to “keep praying for us.”