The rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s projection of a strong economic growth for Ghana in 2021 and the community surveillance to ascertain whether the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant is spreading within communities dominate the headlines of Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s have projected a strong economic growth for the country in 2021.
Fitch is projecting a growth of 4.8 percent while Moody’s is projecting a growth of four percent.
The World Bank is, however, being modest with its projection, projecting a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.4 percent. The 1.4 percent projected growth is lower than the Bank’s 2.7 percent growth projection for sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank in its Global Economy Report for 2021 indicated that growth in the region was forecast to rebound moderately to 2.7 percent in 2021.
While the recovery in private consumption and investment is forecast to be slower than previously envisioned, export growth is expected to accelerate gradually, in line with the rebound in activity among major trading partners.
The report said that the resumption in activity in major advanced and emerging economies and key trading partners of the region (Europe, China, US) was chiefly underpinned by positive news on vaccine development and rollout as well as new rounds of fiscal stimulus.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Heath Service (GHS) has intensified community surveillance to ascertain whether the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant is spreading within communities.
This has become necessary because the service believes the new variant, which has been detected among international travellers, could be the reason a high number of people exposed to the virus are falling sick.
Addressing the media at the Minister’s Briefing, a national platform for providing updates on the national COVID-19 situation and response in Accra on Monday, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the service was also closely monitoring to pick any mutation of the virus to enhance national response.
“Although we have not detected the new UK and South African COVID-19 variant in the communities, its detection at the airport among international travellers and the change in pattern of the disease spread and severity suggest there is a new variant in the country and the chances are that we may have it and it could be responsible for the changing dynamics of the disease,” he said.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye asked the public to adhere strictly to the safety protocols because, unlike previously, high numbers of people exposed to the virus were falling sick with high severity, while cases were going up at an alarming rate.
He said during the last two surge incidences in the previous year, 21 percent of recorded cases were falling sick, with majority being asymptomatic, but currently the situation was different, with 32 percent falling sick.
He mentioned other reasons for the alarming rise to include a rise in social activities and the disregard for the safety protocols, particularly during the Yuletide.
“Poor linkage to care of cases from walk-in labs is another cause of the current surge,” he said.
The Graphic reports that tears flowed at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Monday, January 25, when thousands of Ghanaians paid their respects to the departed former President, Jerry John Rawlings, on the first day of public viewing of his body as it laid in state at the foyer of the centre.
While some of the mourners went into a state of shock after seeing the body, others could not hold back their tears as they filed past the body.
For some of the mourners, it was difficult to comprehend that the man they adored so much had departed this world.
The mourners, from far and near, included various interest groups and members of the public, religious and traditional leaders, officers and the leadership of the various political parties.
There were also security chiefs, including the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh; the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General Obed Boamah Akwa, and the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah.
The Times says that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to engage in rigorous stakeholder engagement to whip up support in implementing environmental regulations and laws to safeguard the environment in 2021, Dr Henry Kofi Kokofu, the Executive Director, EPA has said.
“People are still living in an era where they believe that natural resources are there forever. They simply refuse to understand that degradation has set in and that we risk our very lives as human beings if we continue to treat the environment that way”.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Monday, Dr. Kokofu said there had been a seemingly unyielding challenge of people who were unaware of the environmental laws and so they continued to abuse them with careless abandon.
He said that was why the EPA had set it upon itself to tackle education and awareness of the populace on the environmental laws this year.
Dr. Kokofu said the Agency would through the engagement reach out to the populace with a more comprehensive agenda to get people to understand the need to protect the environment.
He said with the EPA currently having offices in all 16 regions, with its additional 250 new officers, and 20 vehicles supplied to the Agency last year by the government, the Agency was well positioned to carry out its mandate properly.
GIK/APA