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Ghana attains 75% COVID-19 recovery rate – GHS
Ghana now has a 75 per cent COVID-19 recovery rate, following the recuperation of 10,907 patients as of yesterday, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has revealed.
At the COVID-19 press briefing in Accra yesterday, he said all the patients in three out of the 16 administrative regions in the country; Savannah, Northern and Upper West, numbering 37, 61 and 35 respectively, had recovered.
According to him, the majority of the recovered patients were from the Greater Accra Region, where 76 per cent of its 8,075 cases, the highest in the country, had recovered.
He said about 67 per cent of the 2, 867cases in Ashanti had recovered; almost half of Bono East’s 33 cases were free of the virus with Central recording 83 per cent recovery of 794 cases and Eastern, 56 per cent of 400 cases.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye disclosed that the rest of the regions including the Upper East, Volta Region, Western, and Western North had recovery rates ranging between 96 and eight per cent.
“Those who have recovered are free of the virus and they will not be able to transmit the virus to any other person. We isolate only patients who can transmit the virus”, he said and urged the public to not stigmatise them.
Of the 95 people that have died so far, he said majority of them were males more than 60 years with only three per cent less than 15 years, adding that comorbidity was responsible for their demise.
For his part, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the government was engaging the Ghana Police Service to ensure a “purposive” interpretation of Executive Instrument (E.I 164) on wearing of nose mask.
That, he said, would help lay to rest concerns over whether persons who ride in their private vehicles alone were supposed to wear the mask or not following some confrontation between police and drivers.
Signed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on June 15, 2020, in line with powers granted him by Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012), the EI is part of measures to control the spread of COVID -19 in the country.
Per the law, people who do not wear face masks in public could be sentenced to jail terms from four to 10 years or pay a fine between GH¢12,000 and GH¢60,000.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the engagement with the police had become important because the government wanted to ensure that the intention behind the law, which was to stop the spread of the virus, was not defeated.
Responding to concerns that the fine was hash, he said it had been instituted to deter people from flouting the law, stating that “The mere fact that the sanctions are there, would make people comply”
Source: Ghanaian Times
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UNODC partners GFA Foundation on Prison advocacy and mentorship programme
The GFA Foundation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have agreed to work together to advocate for anti-discrimination and the elimination of stigmatization for prisoners and prisons.
This partnership was agreed, in principle, during a meeting at the Home of Football (GFA Head Office) between the Director of the GFA Foundation and the UNODC Team led by Mr. Christoph Capelle, an Associate Expert in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Coordinator of the prison and penal reform project in Ghana.
Welcoming the Team to the Home of Football, the Director of the GFA Foundation, Mr. Malcolm Frazier Appeadu briefed the team about the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which has covered 6 prisons across the country already.
He indicated that the Foundation is liaising with the Ghana Prisons Service to commence the second and third pillars of the project, which are the coaches and referees training programs as well as the advocacy and mentorship initiatives.
He said that the GFA Foundation will welcome partners for the execution of the second phase of the project which will include Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, Kumasi Central Prison, Sekondi Central Prison and three other prison facilities.
In his response, Mr. Christoph Capelle commended the GFA for the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which seeks to use the power of football to promote the wellbeing, reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates of Ghana’s prisons into society.
Mr. Capelle said that UNODC is looking forward to a collaboration with the GFA Foundation on possible programs for both the medium and long term to support football and sports jobs and skills development in Ghana’s prisons.
He extended an invitation to the GFA Foundation to be part of an assessment of overall prison rehabilitation programmes including the use of sports by their international consultant at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.
There will be a football match and donation of footballs, sports items and equipment to the prison facility.
Present at the meeting were Mr. Kwame Koramoah, an officer at the GFA Foundation and Integrity Office, Helena Adobea Ofori, Associate Programme Officer, UNODC and Caleb Elorm Agodzo, Administrative Officer, UNODC.
It will be recalled that in 2020, The UNODC and FIFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to tackle corruption and crime in and through sports and pledged to consider ways in which football can be used as a vehicle to strengthen youth resilience to crime and substance use through the provision of life skills training.
The MOU was renewed last year by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
News
Gomoa West: NPP, NDC supporters clash over commissioning of DRIP equipment
Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday morning clashed over the commissioning of machinery for the District Road Infrastructure Project in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region.
According to Citi News sources, the conflict began when NDC supporters questioned the decision to display images of Bismark Basie Nkum, the NPP’s Gomoa West parliamentary candidate on the DRIP machinery.
This disagreement quickly escalated, almost leading to a physical altercation between the two groups.
Baisie Nkum, who doubles as the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa West, further claimed that the Member of Parliament for the area, Richard Gyan Mensah, brandished a pistol and issued threats against the NPP’s local leadership.
A viral video circulating on social media captured the DCE accusing MP Richard Gyan Mensah of pulling out a gun and threatening NPP supporters during the heated incident.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
