Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-03-28)
Mar 28, 2020
Worldwide death toll surpasses 30,000
The worldwide death toll from coronavirus has surpassed 30,000 according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Italy has recorded the most deaths with the toll standing at 10,023.
Earlier today Spain announced its total number of deaths had reached 5,690.
Mar 28, 2020
Coronavirus: Cases Hit 141
Ghana has recorded four more new cases of coronavirus.
This brings the total cases as at March 28 to 141.
Mar 28, 2020
Coronavirus: 5 Dead
The government has announced that the case count for COVID-19 has risen to 141.
This comes after four new cases were confirmed at 1520GMT on Saturday, March 28, 2020.
Mar 28, 2020
I'm Not Dead — Tsatsi Tsikata Dispell Fake News
“Ignore the rumours and fake news. I am well”, were the words of Tsatsu Tsikata, when The Herald spoke with him on his home phone today, Saturday March 28, 2020 over swelling rumours on social media that the highly respected legal luminary had passed on.
Ahead of the telephone call to Mr Tsikata’s Cantonments home in Accra, a senior lawyer, who has access to him and had done some cases with him, told The Herald’s Managing Editor, Larry Dogbey upon a WhatsApp chat Friday midnight; “If it’s about Tsatsu Tsikata, he is alive and well”.
Mar 28, 2020
COVID 19: Special Insurance Packages For Frontline Health Workers
The Health Ministry has announced a special life insurance cover for the 10,000 health personnel and allied professionals attending to COVID-19 response.
In a letter addressed by the Sector Minister, Kwaku Agyemang to all heads of the agencies within the sector, the government indicated that frontline staff involved in the COVID-19 response have been insured under benefits such as Group life cover with an assured sum of GHS 350, 000 per life.
Mar 28, 2020
Italy's death toll hits 10,000
Another terrible day for Italy, with another 889 deaths in 24 hours. Italy has now seen 10,023 deaths and 92,472 cases. Some 70,065 are currently infected and 12,384 have recovered.
Mar 28, 2020
Trump 'considering quarantine on New York'
By BBC News
US President Donald Trump has said he is considering imposing a quarantine on New York in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
"We'd like to see [it] quarantined because it's a hotspot," he told reporters. "I'm thinking about that."
He spoke as confirmed cases in the state increased to more than 52,000, with at least 728 deaths.
The US president said a quarantine on New York could be implemented as early as Saturday - Getty Images
Mar 28, 2020
Covid-19 could kill millions in Africa without immediate action: UN chief
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says he fears “millions and millions” of coronavirus cases in Africa, where the youth will not be spared. He called on wealthy countries to help the developing world, for their own sake.
Guterres told RFI that Africa should be the priority of the international community as the continent does have the resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Ninety percent of the cases are in the G20 countries which hold 80 percent of the global economy. They shouldn't be working alone, each in their corner, but in a coordinated manner to find treatments and vaccines to put at the world's disposal,” he said.
Mar 28, 2020
Mali opposition urges huge election turnout despite coronavirus
Mali's main opposition party called for "massive participation" in Sunday's parliamentary election, despite its leader being kidnapped and the rising coronavirus threat in the war-torn West African country.
However several other opposition parties called for the vote to be postponed due to COVID-19 crisis, which has seen 18 people infected since the country's first case was diagnosed on Wednesday, according to official figures.
Though sub-Saharan Mali has had relatively few cases so far compared to other continents, the impoverished nation of some 19 million people -- where large swathes of territory lie outside state control -- is just the kind of state experts fear is particularly vulnerable.
Mar 28, 2020
Moody's cuts South Africa's credit ratings to junk
Moody's has downgraded South Africa's credit rating to junk status, piling more anguish on an economy already in recession and battered by Africa's worst coronavirus outbreak.
Moody's move "could not have come at a worse time", the South African government said, as it would "further add to the prevailing financial market stress".
The downgrade late on Friday came as South Africa began a three-week nationwide lockdown to try to halt the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 1,100 people in the country.