Nine Ghanaian nurses out of 95 dispatched to the Barbados who tested positive to Covid-19 and the raid of five houses by soldiers at the border town are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that nine out of a total of 95 Ghanaian nurses dispatched to Barbados by the Ministry of Health have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Caribbean nation.
This was disclosed by the acting Chief Medical Officer of Barbados, Dr Kenneth George on Saturday (August 1, 2020).
He further disclosed that all the nurses who arrived in the country last Thursday (July 30) are in a mandatory 14-day quarantine, although the other 86 tested negative for Coronavirus.
He said: “There were 12 positive cases, but all persons are asymptomatic – that is, they show no symptoms whatsoever.
“Nine of them are from Ghana, from among the nurses who arrived on Thursday. The other 86 tested negative. It should be noted that all of the nurses went into a 14-day quarantine on arrival.”
Ghana’s nursing contingent in the island nation comprises 49 female and 46 male nurses.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that the COVID-19 National Trust Fund Act (CNTF) has utilised GH¢32,820,564.97 out of a total of GH¢53,911,249.87 that it had mobilised as at June 30, 2020.
The Minister in the mid-year review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy on July 23 said the amount was mobilised from individuals, churches, corporate bodies, staff of organisations, non-Governmental organisations, groups, and associations.
He said: “As at 30th June, 2020, the CNTF had mobilised GH¢53,911,249.87 from individuals, churches, corporate bodies, staff of organisations, non-Governmental organisations, groups, and associations, among others. Out of this, an amount of GH¢32,820,564.97 has been utilised as at 30th June, 2020.
Shedding light on how the funds were expended, Mr Ofori-Atta also stated that the the Fund transferred GH¢10,257,360.00 into the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund for acquisition of PPEs and other medical items to resource the country’s frontline workers.
The Times reports that armed soldiers raided at least five houses in the border town of Honuta in the Ho West District on July 7 and subjected the occupant to terror after falsely accusing them of hosting Togolese contracted to take part in the voter registration exercise, the Honuta Traditional Council has confirmed.
This was during the second day of the voter registration exercise in the area.
Elder Robert Atutornu, secretary of the council stated that the soldiers, who were supported by a vigilante group ransacked the rooms in the houses they invaded but found no Togolese in any of the rooms.
He made the startling revelation when the President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV and members of the Volta Region House of Chiefs called at the palace of the acting Paramount Chef of Honuta, Togbe Agamasu II, during their tour of some border traditional areas at the weekend.
The tour followed growing reports of unmitigated harassment of people in those communities by personnel of the security agencies.
GIK/APA