The Director of Public Health, Badu Sarkodie says Ghana has not reviewed its quarantine policy regarding the novel coronavirus.

As it stands, only people coming from Wuhan in the Hubei Province, the epicentre of the outbreak in China would be quarantined if they visit Ghana.

Dr. Sarkodie, speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Friday, said this policy has not changed, despite the virus spreading to other parts of the world, with Italy being the heaviest hit in Europe.

Nigeria became the first West African country to record a case, the Federal Ministry of Health of the country confirmed on Thursday.

A statement signed by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated that an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on February 25, 2020, was suspected to have contracted the disease.

Mr. Osagie said the case was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The case in Nigeria has since risen tensions in Ghana.

But responding to whether people travelling from Italy would be quarantined due to the Nigeria situation, Dr. Sarkodie said “other areas do not merit our arrangement for quarantine for now.”

He added that other mechanisms are in place to check travellers from around the world but they do not include quarantine which he reiterated is limited to Hubei Province in China for now.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service has acknowledged the Nigeria case, adding Ghana is intensifying its preparedness to deal with the Covid-19.

“We wish to take the opportunity to reassure Ghanaians that we will continue to intensify our preparedness activities and heighten surveillance at all points of entry to ensure that all citizens are safe and secured,” a statement from the GHS also said.

The GHS has also reiterated that people regularly wash their hands with soap under running water or if possible use hand sanitizers, among other precautions to take to protect oneself from the virus.

The Service has advised people should not visit health facilities on their own if they returned from an affected country and exhibit symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

Rather, call 055 2222 004 or 055 2222 005 or 050 9497700 or 055 8439 868.

The death toll of the Covid-19 has now risen to nearly 3,000.

Read the Health Service’s  full statement below