|
The Times said that former President of Ghana, Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor, has urged African governments to invest in trustworthy information and communication systems to help in disseminating the right information that will be trustworthy to their citizens.
“This will help in averting the total collapse of Africa’s already fragile economies in the coming months and it will be a way of achieving the necessary behavioural change that is required by Africans,” he said in an article published by CNBC Africa.
He noted that “during my tenure as the president of the Republic of Ghana, there was an increasingly profitable private sector driven media and communication sector”.
The newspaper also reported that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the government has reached an agreement with the commercial banks and the Bank of Ghana to raise GH¢3 billion to support specific industries in the country.
The amount, he said, would be disbursed to industries that have been severely affected by the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic in a form of loans.
The report added that the President said this yesterday at a meeting with key players in the hospitality industry in the country at the Jubilee House in Accra.
The Times also said that the government has provided 5,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the Ghanaian media in support of their work in the wake on the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the equipment would be presented to the National Media Commission (NMC), Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and other stakeholders for onward distribution to media organisations to support the media, which have played critical roles in the fight against the spread of the disease in the country.
The Graphic said that the Head of the Virology Department of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) at the University of Ghana, Professor William Ampofo, has said that beginning from Thursday, May 7, the rate of infection of COVID-19 in Ghana will be determined within 24 hours.
He said this after a backlog of 1,982 samples were cleared at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), one of the testing centres in the country.
Prof. Ampofo, who made the declaration at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday, said the KCCR had about 3,000 samples as of Monday, May 4, 2020, and was able to work all night to reduce them to 1,982 samples the following day.
The newspaper also said that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of Ghana has so far registered 45 companies to produce homemade facemasks, gloves and face shields.
The report noted that in the wake of the Coronavirus disease, the Ministry of Health (MoH) directed the use of face masks in all public places where it may be difficult to maintain social distancing. It has also recommended that Ghanaians use only FDA-approved masks.
The use of cloth face masks can slow the spread of the virus, and help people who may have the virus, but do not know, from transmitting it to others.
|
