Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-09-27)

Oct 1, 2020

Covid-19: Locked Down Areas Recorded 47.1% Increase In Crime Rate – Statistical Service

The coronavirus pandemic has since March had a devastating impact on households, businesses, and the local economies in Ghana, and the world at large.

With almost every sector experiencing change of a sort, the pandemic gave way to more negative effects than positive.

Sep 30, 2020

Covid crisis drove poverty to highest level since WWII: French charity

The French charity Secours Populaire has rung alarm bells with their new report which shows a huge increase in the number of people requiring fooda aid during the Covid-19 lockdown in levels not seen since the Second World War.

Secours Populaire said that one out of two people who came for food handouts during the two-month lockdown, from March to May, were new faces.

Sep 30, 2020

COVID-19: 78% Of Communities Did Not Benefit Gov't’s Free Water – Statistical Service

It has emerged that 78 percent of communities in Ghana sampled did not benefit from Government's free water initiative.

According to the COVID-19 Local Economies Tracker by the Ghana Statistical Service and the UNDP, these localities relied on alternative sources of water and were not served by the Ghana Water Company Limited.

Sep 30, 2020

Trump vs Biden: Policy lacking as Covid, taxes and insults take centre stage

It was messy and there was a lot of shouting, but President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden managed to touch on some of the crucial issues facing American voters during their 90-minute debate, including the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and the economy.

Political observers expected the Republican incumbent to come out swinging, but it was the 77-year-old former vice president who ended up landing some of the toughest insults of the night, calling Trump a "clown" and a "liar."

'Will you shut up?'

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Sep 30, 2020

‘Covid-19 Not Totally Defeated’ — Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has warned that Covid-19 still poses great threat to human lives and should not be underestimated.

According to him, even though the rate of new infections in the country has reduced significantly, the disease has not been totally eradicated.

President Nana Akufo-Addo

Sep 30, 2020

French fitness clubs launch legal action against 'unfair' Covid closures

Sports and fitness club owners across France have signed a petition and launched legal action against the government's decision to close establishments this week in major cities to stop the spread of Covid-19. They say the move will jeopardise thousands of jobs, and have a negative effect on citizens' mental well-being.

More than 100 signatories of an open letter have slammed the "nonsensical and arbitrary" nature of the government's decision to close sports clubs in major French cities as of Monday, in areas considered to be 'reinforced alert' zones due to the high number of coronavirus cases.

AFP

Sep 30, 2020

Covid sinks Dinard film festival, but France promises to keep cinema afloat

The 31st edition of the Dinard British Film Festival should have opened this week in the north-west of France, but the event has been cancelled because of a sudden spike in local Covid-19 cases. The French government has announced a sizeable financial rescue package to help the cinema industry weather the storm.

The annual British Film Festival was cancelled by the mayor of Dinard, Arnaud Salmon, on 16 September, because of fears related to the spread of Covid-19.

Rosslyn Hyams/RFI

Sep 29, 2020

French government seeks to appease bar owners' fury over Covid-19 closures

France's government announced relief measures on Tuesday for bars, cafés and restaurants forced to reduce hours or close due to new Covid-19 restrictions. Angry owners denounced measures they described as incoherent and ineffective.

On Monday evening, bars and cafés in Paris and 11 other French cities classified as “high risk” were obliged to close at 10pm due to new Covid-19 restrictions that were to last at least two weeks.

AFP

Sep 29, 2020

Half a million sharks may be killed to produce global Covid-19 vaccine

Conservationists in the United States are warning the race to a coronavirus vaccine may see the slaughter of half a million sharks, causing irreversible damage to our oceans' ecosystems.

This is because squalene, a natural oil made in the liver of sharks, is an ingredient in several of the candidate vaccines in clinical trials.

AFP/File

Sep 29, 2020

India’s coronavirus case tally passes 6 million, nearly 100,000 dead

India's coronavirus tally has crossed the 6 million mark after 82,170 new cases were reported across the country, giving the sub-continent the world's fastest infection rate. The number of Indian deaths from the disease is approaching 100,000.

With the latest million infections coming in 11 days and the number of deaths from the disease at over 95,540, new infections in India are currently being reported faster than anywhere else in the world.

Sep 29, 2020

Ghana’s COVID-19 Death Toll Rise To 301

Two more persons have succumbed to coronavirus.

This pushes Ghana’s death toll to 301.

Sep 28, 2020

Coastal Development Union Launch Credit Union Facility To Help In The Fight Of COVID-19

The Coastal Development Authority has launched its Credit Union facility here in Accra. The scheme according to its Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Ahmed Shaib Esq., the scheme is a recovery program designed to cushion the plight of traders belonging to the informal sector.

Speaking during a launch program here in Accra, Mr. Ahmed Shaib said, ''this is a poverty eradication program led by H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana aimed at helping SMEs during this difficult time of Covid19''.

Sep 28, 2020

Akufo-Addo's COVID Measures So Far Stands Tall Among Other Countries

President Akufo-Addo's measures put in place in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted international admiration.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the Chairman for the Lancet Commission for COVID-19 is the latest to commend the Ghana government under the ruling NPP for that exceptional and bold leadership.

Sep 28, 2020

Why some people develop severe form of Covid-19

The peculiarity of Covid-19 is the wide variety of symptoms it produces in different people. While a majority of the infected persons exhibit mild or no symptoms, the disease can take a severe form among the rest. This discrepancy has puzzled many.

Now, an international team of scientists has pinpointed a cause that accounts for almost 15 percent of the severely affected people.

iStock / gorodenkoff

Sep 28, 2020

'Saving nature' at heart of coronavirus recovery, world leaders vow

Almost five years on from the Paris climate deal, France and dozens of countries on Monday pledged “broad” and “urgent” action to stop the destruction of the world's biodiversity.

In a 10-point plan that comes ahead of this Wednesday's decisive UN nature summit, 64 world leaders sounded the alarm on a “planetary emergency” brought about by the climate and biodiversity crises.

AFP - CARL DE SOUZA

Sep 28, 2020

France’s Covid epidemic worsens as new restrictive measures take effect

Health agency figures showed France's Covid-19 epidemic continued to accelerate as new restrictive measures were to come into effect in large cities including Paris on Monday. Government ministers said the priority was to avoid a new general lockdown.

With Covid-19 cases, infection rates and hospital admissions continuing an upward trend in France on Monday, public officials expressed hope a new slate of restrictive measures would keep the epidemic from reaching first-wave levels.

REUTERS - ERIC GAILLARD

Sep 28, 2020

COVID Test At KIA More Defensive Against Second Wave Of Global Infections – Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has assured that the robust testing regime deployed at the Kotoka International Airport will help curtail the importation of the novel coronavirus even as parts of the world goes through a second wave of virus infection.

Speaking at the Minister’s Press Briefing in Accra on Sunday, September 27, 2020, the Minister and Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi said government has taken note of the new wave of the virus in some parts of the world and is putting measures in place to prevent a second influx from these affected countries.

Sep 28, 2020

Ken Agyapong Missing In Court Today Over Alleged Covid-19 Complications, Court Summons His Doctor

The Member of Parliament for Assin Central Ken Ohene Agyapong who is a subject of contempt of court has suffered from covid-19 complications, the High Court in Accra has been informed.

Agyapong who is in court for allegedly scandalizing the court by describing a High Court judge with unprintable words pleaded not guilty to contempt after he was charged for scandalizing the court and bringing its name into disrepute.

Sep 28, 2020

Ghana’s COVID-19 Active Cases Falls To 477

The active cases of COVID-19 in Ghana stand at 477 as of Sunday, September 27.

Some 131 new cases have also been recorded.

Sep 28, 2020

Global Covid-19 death toll passes one million as epidemics accelerate

Nine months after the detection of the new coronavirus in China, the Covid-19 disease has claimed its millionth victim, according to a compilation of official figures from around the world on Monday.

Epidemics are rising in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia, namely in India, which recorded its 9 millionth case on Sunday.

AFP