Coronavirus: Akufo-Addo Urges Pharmaceutical Industry To Help Fight Spread

President Akufo-Addo has urged members of the pharmaceutical industry to help the government fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The president who described the situation as a crisis says all hands must be on deck to help the country fight this novel disease.

President Akufo-Addo made the comments when he met the leaders of the pharmaceutical industry today, March 16, 2020, at the Jubilee House.

“So I called you here for all of us to put our brains, our minds, and our hearts together to see a way forward for the future of our country. I felt that with you, the leaders of the pharmaceuticals industry in our country, we can come together in this coalition to address these deficiencies in a really systematic and a really programmatic manner,” the president said.

The president further said that the current happenings in the country present an opportunity for the pharmaceutical companies to take advantage of.

“We should be making most of the things we use in Ghana ourselves and I'm seeing what is happening to us in this crisis as an opportunity. It has very big consequences but also an opportunity but they say necessity is the mother of invention and advisedly so.”

Ghana has so far recorded six cases of COVID-19. Educational institutions have subsequently been shut down and other gathering suspended to stop the spread of the virus in Ghana.

The government said three of the cases were recorded in Accra while one other was recorded in the Ashanti Region.

The Director of Public Health at Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie who provided updates on the country's cases said the new cases were also imported into the country.

He said two of the cases were confirmed on the 13th of March 2020 while the other two were confirmed on 14th March, 2020.

How to protect yourself

To prevent the spread, the standard recommendations coming from the WHO is regular hand washing, covering one's mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.

People are also advised to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.