Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday extended the nationwide state of emergency until the end of May in Japan. In this first of a series of publication, “Stay Home Stay with ViVID”, Marina Amoah, a new member of ViVID, will present the status of coronavirus in Ghana and the national policies drafted to curb the situation.
The virus has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa. The government of Ghana proactively took initial preventive measures, closing its borders just 5 days after two foreign tourists were confirmed “positive” on 12th March*1. As more and more cases were confirmed in Ghana, the two big cities, Accra and Kumasi where increasing cases of infections were recorded were eventually locked down on 30th March. Aside the lockdown, Ghana has made aggressive testing of suspected cases fearing the pandemic might overwhelm the national health system. “We have, till date, tested 68,591 cases...We are ranked number one in Africa in the administering of tests per million people,” president Nana Akufo-Addo said in a State of the Nation Address*2,*3. Despite growing infected cases and increasing rate of infections, president Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana lifted the three-week lockdown on 20th April.
So why did he do so...?
With the informal sector being a larger part of Ghana’s economy, life in lockdown cities was unbearable for millions of the poor and vulnerable people living on the edge. Ghana’s government has halved electricity costs, cancelled water bills for three months and distributed food supplies to ease the burden of the lockdown. However, this assistance has not been sufficient for everyone*4. The earliest relief of lockdowns in Africa was a tough decision by governments having to choose between saving its people from the virus or from poverty.
Confirmed cases of covid-19 have almost tripled since the lockdown was lifted*5. ViVID is urgently working on a new project “Fight COVID-19 with ViVID” as a means to tackle this emergency. (We will be soon launching a crowdfunding too!)