Fellow Ghanaians, good evening, and thank you for having me in your homes, once again. Two weeks ago, we begun the reopening of our schools, as part of the phased approach to bring our nation back to normalcy, following the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 disease in our country. Since that time, final year University students, SHS 3 and SHS 2 Gold Track students have all returned to school.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the loss of millions of jobs in the developed and developing world. Migrant workers are among the most directly affected. They work in economic sectors adversely impacted by the economic slowdown such as construction, the hospitality industry, tourism, food, agribusinesses, transport and domestic work. This loss of income has ripple effects across the world, putting millions of poor rural families at risk.

Fellow Ghanaians,

Good Evening, It has been eight (8) weeks since our nation embarked on a co-ordinated, enhanced response towards combating the Coronavirus pandemic, after we recorded our first two (2) confirmed cases. We have taken the necessary measures of aggressively tracing, testing, isolating and treating infected persons and their contacts, as a means of containing the spread of the virus amongst the population.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

I am happy that I have the opportunity this evening to engage with you, again, in your homes. I want, at the outset, to thank all of you for your prayers and expressions of good wishes when doctors advised me to go into quarantine for two (2) weeks. God being so good, I am back again at work. I thank you very much for your concern.

Fellow Ghanaians,

Good evening, and thank you for welcoming me into your homes once again. You are doing so on one of the sacred days of our nation, 28th February, when the 1948 Christiansborg Crossroads shooting occurred seventy-three (73) years ago, which led to the martyrdoms of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe, and Private Odartey Lamptey, martyrdoms that ignited the nationalist movement, and led us to the freedom we enjoy today. Let us observe a moment’s silence in honour of their memory, and the memory of all the faithful departed patriots who helped create our nation. May their souls rest in perfect peace.

Fellow Ghanaians, Good evening.

Nine (9) days ago, I came to your homes and requested you to make great sacrifices to save lives, and to protect our motherland. I announced the imposition of strict restrictions to movement, and asked that residents of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and its contiguous districts to stay at home for two (2) weeks, in order to give us the opportunity to stave off this pandemic. As a result, residents of these two areas had to make significant adjustments to our way of life, with the ultimate goal being to protect permanently our continued existence on this land.

Fellow Ghanaians,

I have come into your homes, again, this evening to provide an update, as I promised, on the measures taken by Government to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.

Written By Albert Apotele Nyaaba - Early theorists of stigma including Erving Goffman in his 1963 work ‘Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity’, defined stigma as ‘an attribute that is deeply discrediting’ and one that, makes it impracticable for an individual to have full social acceptance. Evidence suggest that contemporary epidemics such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola were associated with significant social stigma and discrimination in which affected persons or communities suffer from social rejection, violence, and compromised quality of life.

French nurses and doctors faced off with President Emmanuel Macron at a leading Paris hospital Friday, demanding better pay and a rethink of a once-renowned public health system that found itself quickly overwhelmed by tens of thousands of virus patients.

The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, says his comments on projections on the number of likely Coronavirus (Covid-19) infections in Ghana made during a television interview were taken out of context.

A weekly coronavirus testing regime using a “no-swab” saliva test is being trialled in Southampton, southern England, and could result in a simpler and quicker way to detect outbreaks of the virus, the British government said on Monday.

India has begun exporting Covid-19 vaccines to neighboring countries with the first batches being shipped Wednesday to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles, the foreign ministry said.

One of President Joe Biden’s top economic aides on Sunday will press Democratic and Republican senators for a fresh $1.9 trillion in coronavirus relief to help struggling Americans and avert a larger economic crisis.

 Queen Elizabeth told the British people on Sunday that they would overcome the coronavirus outbreak if they stayed resolute in the face of lockdown and self-isolation, invoking the spirit of World War Two in an extremely rare broadcast to the nation.

At a Chinese-run hospital in Zambia, some employees watched as people who recently returned from China showed up with coughs but were not placed in isolation. A doctor tending to those patients has stopped coming to work, and health workers have been ordered not to speak publicly about the new virus that has killed hundreds around the world.

Health care workers around the country rolled up their sleeves for the first COVID-19 shots Monday as hope that an all-out vaccination effort can defeat the coronavirus smacked up against the heartbreaking reality of 300,000 U.S. deaths.

India’s capital New Delhi recorded 25,500 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, with about one in three people tested returning a positive result, its chief minister said, urging the federal government to provide more hospital beds to tackle the crisis.

President Akufo-Addo says he has directed the Minister for Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, to make available the cedi equivalent of $100 million to enhance Ghana’s Coronavirus preparedness and response plan.

China’s prevention and control efforts have made important progress at this stage. In the nation of 1.4 billion people, the daily new confirmed cases keep dropping and most of them are imported from overseas. Hubei province reported zero new confirmed or suspected cases on March 18th. More than 87% of the 80,000 confirmed cases have recovered and been discharged.

Last Monday I was on my way to work in the morning.  I left home, on a journey that usually takes 30 minutes through the Accra Traffic.  It took me 3 hours. I did not really understand why until I got on campus, and realised that it was because the students had come back, and we were sharing the same entrance.  No preparation had been made for the large numbers of people who would flood the place.  Everyone was using the single entrance, and single exit.  The security men milled around listlessly, trying to shepherd lost drivers unto choked roads.  It was mayhem.  And in all this, no one had thought about the fact that there was a quarternary medical centre on the University Campus, and that its staff would need access on such a day. 

The past few weeks have been a tough one in the world over. Hospital beds are exhausted. The old are dying just as much as the young are. As many rich people are perishing as the poor ones. The economies of nations are crashing. Businesses are on their knees. Life has literally come to a halt and everyone is fleeing from one name— coronavirus!

Fifty-five (55) persons at the Accra Girls Senior High School (SHS) have tested positive for COVID-19, the authorities have confirmed.

 Eight big cats at the Bronx Zoo have been discovered to have tested positive for COVID-19.

Eight more sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive again for the coronavirus, raising to 13 the number who appear to have become infected a second time while serving aboard the sidelined aircraft carrier.

Written By Edith Zikpi - If we had the chance to decide if we wanted COVID -19 at all, we – as a country – would have unanimously chose to be unrepresented in that discussion.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced that it will roll out one million coronavirus testing kits to meet the continent’s “big gap”.

Two luxury hotels in Abu Dhabi, which had been in lockdown amid concerns about the coronavirus during a professional cycling event, allowed some guests to leave on Sunday after they tested negative for the disease, company spokespersons said.

The Accra Technical University (ATU) has confirmed a case of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has identified, Accra and Tema in the Greater Accra Region and Kumasi in the Ashanti Region as the epicentres of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana.

Robert Sears in “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child” states “most anti-vaccine books claim that all shots are bad, the diseases aren’t really anything to fear, and as long as you live a natural and healthy lifestyle, you don’t have to worry. I think this is a very irresponsible approach to the vaccine issue. Vaccines are beneficial in ridding our population of both serious and nonserious diseases.”

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will test all day students of Achimota School for COVID-19 to help identify students and contain further community spread of the virus, following an outbreak in the school.

Actor Idris Elba has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced Monday.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening. This is the third time in the last ten (10) days that I have come into your homes to give you an update on the progress of our fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. I am going to be providing you regular updates.

Lockdowns have begun in Africa as coronavirus cases rise above 1,000, while Nigeria on Saturday announced it is closing airports to all incoming international flights for one month in the continent's most populous country.

African countries are scaling up their ability to detect the coronavirus as fears mount that the continent's first confirmed case could soon be announced.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) on Tuesday approved $2 million in emergency assistance for the World Health Organization (WHO) to reinforce its capacity to help African countries contain the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impacts.

African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has called for vaccine justice for Africa. Speaking at the launch of the Bank’s African Economic Outlook 2021 report on Friday, Adesina decried the lack of Covid-19 vaccines reaching Africa.

World-famous singer and saxophonist Manu Dibango has died from a coronavirus infection at the age of 86 in France, his management team said on Tuesday.

The African community in Guangzhou is on edge after widespread accounts were shared on social media of people being left homeless this week, as China's warnings against imported coronavirus cases stoke anti-foreigner sentiment.

Officials in several European countries pushed back Friday against decisions by others to pause use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine following sporadic reports of blood clots, despite a lack of evidence the shot was responsible.

Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across a swathe of its wealthy north on Sunday, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic new attempt to try to contain a rapidly growing outbreak of coronavirus.

The State Department is urging all Americans "do not travel" abroad because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the severe travel restrictions or quarantines imposed by governments around the world.

Our world today is dealing with a crisis of monumental proportions. The vicious novel coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the globe, destroying lives and ruining livelihoods.

At a COVID-19 vaccination site in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, tempers flared among those waiting for scarce AstraZeneca jabs, with some accusing others of trying to jump the queue.

The last few weeks have been marred by the controversy regarding the importation of Sputnik-V vaccines to Ghana. We doubt if we will have to remind you of the issues that have been raised by many concerned citizens regarding the contracts that have been entered into with the private office of Sheik Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of United Arab Emirates. We want to set off by saying that no one can fault you for wishing to get vaccines urgently in an attempt to meet your target of vaccinating 20-million Ghanaians (60% of the population) by the end of 2021.

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of all Ghanaians, I greet you. Many thanks for the bold initiative to institute some measures in a bid to arrest the current COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana. Permit me to share my thoughts on your proposed measures as well as provide you some ideas to complement your efforts.

Angola revises national budget and suspends CAPEX; Senegal’s first oil development faces debt arrangement challenges; Nigeria poised for a major revenue loss; Analysts predict Ghana will get half its projected revenue; Cameroon can expect to see a three percent drop in economic growth.

Apple and Google are getting into the digital contact tracing space, the companies jointly announced Wednesday.

The General Overseer of the Action Chapel International Ministry, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has called for prayers to apprehend the vicious corononavisus to prevent it from spreading in an exclusive interview with Paul Adom-Otchere on Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana programme.

Randy Pausch, in The Last Lecture states, “another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I’m a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst-case scenario. I call it ‘the eaten by wolves’ factor.’ If I do something, what’s the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don’t worry about because I have a plan in place if they do.”

President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted a photo of himself wearing a mask, saying, "many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can't socially distance" and "There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President."

In defending his strategy against the deadly coronavirus, President Donald Trump repeatedly has said he slowed its spread into the United States by acting decisively to bar travelers from China on Jan. 31.

With the coronavirus increasing its spread across Africa, the continent received a much-needed care package from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.

The Obuasi Township in the Ashanti Region has recorded 272 cases of the Coronavirus disease, making it a hotspot for the disease.

A modified version of AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine tailored to combat a coronavirus variant first documented in South Africa could be ready by the end of 2021, an AstraZeneca official in Austria said in an interview published on Sunday.

Atlanta's mayor says she will sign an executive order mandating masks in Georgia's largest city Wednesday, defying Gov. Brian Kemp's decision to strongly encourage but not require face coverings.

The Welfare Committee of the St Augustines College in Cape Coast has officially petitioned the Central Regional Coordinating Council to reconsider using the college as an isolation and or quarantine centre for COVID 19 patients.

Having fought many viruses for a career, Peter Piot after fighting off COVID-19 opined, “Many people think COVID-19 kills 1% of patients, and the rest get away with some flu-like symptoms. But the story gets more complicated. Many people will be left with chronic kidney and heart problems. Even their neural system is disrupted. There will be hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, possibly more, who will need treatments such as renal dialysis for the rest of their lives”.

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, countries, societies, and individuals have struggled to respond to the pandemic’s devastation of health systems, economies, trade, and human wellbeing. While Africa has been spared the pandemic’s harshest health impacts, it has absorbed a heavy economic burden.

The Minister-designate for Information, Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has explained that the new restrictions on social gatherings as announced by President Akufo-Addo last Sunday, does not mean a ban on marriages.

Waiting among hundreds of fellow travelers to catch a ferry out of Bangladesh’s capital, unemployed construction worker Mohammed Nijam knew he was risking catching the coronavirus, but he felt it was even riskier to stay in Dhaka with another lockdown looming.

The number builds. We have lost more people than we thought we would lose. Just when we have begun to fix our focus on getting back to some kind of normal, this disease seems to further deepen its trenches along the frontline. The virus is freely jumping across all the defenses we have sacrificed to put up. And seems to pick whom it pleases. It crosses class, tribal, political lines. No one is safe.

Written By Dr G. Koryoe Anim-Wright - On March 21, 2020, due to the spread of COVID-19, the President announced the closure of the country’s borders, effective midnight on Sunday, March 22.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated that personnel of the Ghana Police Service, and if need be other security agencies will join in, to strictly enforce the Covid-19 health and safety protocols to stem the spread of the disease in the country.

It won’t speed the manufacture of vaccines. It enraged the developers who delivered lifesaving doses in record time. But President Joe Biden’s decision to support waiving intellectual property rights for coronavirus shots had a broader purpose: to broadcast his administration’s commitment to global leadership.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates for millions of federal workers and contractors as he lamented the “American tragedy” of rising-yet-preventable deaths among the unvaccinated.

With a burst of executive orders, President Joe Biden served notice Thursday that America’s war on COVID-19 is under new command, promising an anxious nation progress to reduce infections and lift the siege it has endured for nearly a year.

Prince Charles, the 71-year-old heir to the British throne, has tested positive for coronavirus but is in good health and is now self isolating in Scotland.

Burundi is expelling the national head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and three members of his team as it prepares for a presidential election that is being held next week despite concern about health risks during the coronavirus pandemic.

President Akufo-Addo is to lead a three-day meeting of Cabinet to examine data gathered so far on the impact of the #Covid-19 disease across all governance sectors in Ghana.

California issued an unprecedented statewide “stay at home” order on Thursday for its 40 million residents and Washington warned Americans to return home or stay abroad indefinitely, as the number of coronavirus deaths in the country hit 200.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that the state will require COVID-19 vaccines for all school children ages 12-17 once the FDA grants full approval, becoming the first state in the country to move forward on mandating vaccines for school children.

Ghana last Wednesday received the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines through the WHO global vaccine-sharing program. The 600,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca Vaccines were manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, representing part of the first wave of COVID 19 vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries. The delivery is part of the first wave of arrivals that will continue in the coming days and weeks. With this, Ghana became the first country outside India to receive COVID-19 vaccines shipped via the COVAX Facility. This is deemed a historic step towards the goal of ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.

Written By Daniel Asare - One thing the impact of COVID-19 has revealed is that countries are ultimately on their own. It has been more than a year since a new world came into being as a result of COVID-19. It has upturned our pattern of social relations, clobbered our economies and trade relations, and continues to impact our psychological wellbeing.

It's best to avoid them, unless you routinely take them for a medical condition. Although the evidence is limited, some painkillers might interfere with the very thing the vaccine is trying to do: generate a strong immune system response.

Canadian regulators on Friday authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults.

China’s military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics (6185.HK) after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday.

The White House coronavirus task force is seeking to get ahead of the growing debate over how it's responding to racial disparities in coronavirus deaths -- particularly the much higher numbers and percentages in black communities compared to states as a whole.

The CDC warned House lawmakers that the delta variant sweeping across the country is as contagious as chickenpox, has a longer transmission window than the original Covid-19 strain and may make older people sicker, even if they’ve been fully vaccinated.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made the decision to self-quarantine in her home after having contact with a doctor who tested positive for the coronavirus, making her the latest world leader to take precautions after possible exposure to the rapidly spreading disease.

Change has come to our world. The game changer is COVID-19. When the history of this pandemic comes to be penned down, it is not only the health challenges it brought the people of the world that would be highlighted.

With the coronavirus pandemic infecting and killing black people in the United States at a disproportionately high rate, basketball legend Charles Barkley said on Saturday night that the health crisis is a “wake-up call” for him and the black community to push for better health care and dieting.

China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental coronavirus vaccines as it battles to contain imported cases and prevent a second wave of COVID-19.

China’s top legislature said it will immediately ban the trade and consumption of wild animals, in a fast-track decision it says will allow the country to win the battle against the coronavirus outbreak.

For most countries, the spike in Covid-19 cases playing out in China would register as little more than a blip on the chart.

Chinese state media have played up questions about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and whether it could be lethal to the very old. A government spokesperson suggests the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab.

 China recorded three new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland for May 23, following the first day with no new cases since the outbreak began, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Sunday.

The number of new coronavirus cases in China fell on Sunday and a health official said intense efforts to stop its spread were beginning to work, as another 70 people tested positive on a virus-stricken cruise ship quarantined in Japan.

The United States should stop wasting time in its fight against the coronavirus and work with China to combat it, rather than spreading lies and attacking the country, the Chinese government’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday.

China and the United States should remove all barriers to travel between the two countries if the United States achieves herd immunity for COVID-19 with 90% of its population vaccinated, potentially by August, a Chinese epidemiologist has said.

China's virus death toll rose by 89 on Sunday to 811, passing the number of fatalities in the 200

The China International Water and Electric Corporation has presented a cheque for GH¢800,000 to the COVID-19 National Trust Fund to support its activities.

China National Biotec Group (CNBG) said on Sunday that early human test results for a coronavirus vaccine candidate suggested it could be safe and effective, the second vaccine candidate from the firm to show encouraging results in a clinical trial.

What do malaria and COVID-19 have in common? On the surface, not much. But according to early research, an old malaria drug called chloroquine might also work for the new coronavirus.

Written By Dr. Samuel Ganyaglo - Water is life – no doubt, we all know this to be true and the current COVID19 pandemic brings it into sharp focus. Achieving universal access to safe drinking water is still a major challenge in most parts of the world especially Sub-Saharan Africa. The link between safe drinking water, human health and well being has been well established.

Written By Rev. Aidan Kwame Ahaligah, Ph.D. -  Since China reported its first cases of the unexplained low respiratory infections in Wuhan, on December 31, 2019, 197 countries and territories as of the time of writing have recorded more than three million infections of what the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses calls SARS-Cov-2. The disease that SARS-Cov-2 causes is what has been termed COVID-19.

The first patients have been enrolled in human trials for a coronavirus vaccine at the historic University of Oxford after the U.K.’s Health Secretary said the country would be “throwing everything” behind the project.

Four pre-tertiary education unions in Ghana are demanding the closure of schools in order to avert the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.

The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has said it will be disastrous for the government to close down senior high schools (SHSs) and send students back home for fear that they will contract the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Comedian D.L. Hughley announced he tested positive for COVID-19 after collapsing onstage during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee.

In New York City, African Americans and Latinos are two times more likely to be hospitalized and to die from COVID than white Americans, according to local officials' figures.

International concern about the spread of coronavirus outside China grew on Sunday with sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

Ghana's Coronavirus confirmed cases has increased to 11. One of the two new cases involves a 61-year-old Lebanese male national, who is a trader and resident in Kumasi.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ghana rises to nineteen (19)

Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, should probably avoid big social gatherings and airline flights, given the rapid spread of coronavirus, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets.

“I have not always chosen the safest path. I’ve made my mistakes, plenty of them. I sometimes jump too soon and fail to appreciate the consequences. But I’ve learned something important along the way: I’ve learned to heed the call of my heart. I’ve learned that the safest path is not always the best path and I’ve learned that the voice of fear is not always to be trusted.” Steve Goodier

Victor Hugo argues in Les Misérables that “teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that dry food packs and hot cooked meals distributed by the government to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic cost GH¢54.3 million.

Greatness often emerges out of crisis.
From the ashes of social upheavals and epidemic and natural disasters, great economic policies, often, are shaped.

Written By Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo - COVID-19 seemed a faraway disease when it emerged in Wuhan in December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa joined immunization experts in urging the international community and countries in Africa to take concrete actions to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, as researchers around the world race to find effective protection against the virus.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease. While there is limited information known about the safety and effectiveness of using remdesivir to treat people in the hospital with COVID-19, the investigational drug was shown in a clinical trial to shorten the time to recovery in some patients.

Written By Wang Hongjiang - The world’s fight against the raging novel coronavirus epidemic has become a touchstone for the resilient friendship between China and African countries.

An elderly Chinese tourist has died in France from the new coronavirus. The 80-year-old man, who died in Paris, is the first person in Europe to die due to complications from the virus that originated in China.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, on how cautious governors and local officials need to be when reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The scare of coronavirus has consumed the world and it is no doubt that many would still harbor the fear of mingling freely with others long after this virus is gone. Many things are going to change after this period; both good and evil. Some things are going to change for the better and others, for the worse. Our addictions are going to change.

Studies show people with the coronavirus are most infectious just at the point when they first begin to feel unwell, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said on Tuesday.

Countries on three continents reported their first cases of the coronavirus on Friday as the world prepared for a pandemic of the disease and investors dumped equities in expectation of a global recession.

Moderna Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be tested in the United States, produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers, according to very early data released by the biotech company on Monday.

U.S. researchers gave the first shots in a first test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine Monday, leading off a worldwide hunt for protection even as the pandemic surges.

“We have within us the power to choose how we respond to a hurtful situation. We cannot control the actions of others, but we can control how we will respond. As we understand our power to choose, we see that we are in control. Our life is not a result of our environment or upbringing, but a result of our choices. We have the ability to determine the kind of life we want to live and the type of person we wish to be.” Cameron C. Taylor

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) wants President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to call the National Identification Authority (NIA) to order following its continuance of the mass Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region in the face of the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana.

With six confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ghana, it is likely that there could be localised person to person transmission.

The Lead Pastor of the Cedar Mountain Chapel of the Assemblies of God at East Legon, Reverend Stephen Yenusom Wengam says the ban on all social gatherings in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in Ghana will have a negative impact on the finances of churches.

Mr President,

Central Region is in difficult times; demonstrate leadership now or we perish from the scourge of Covid-19.

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dr Abiy Ahmed has announced that Ghana has this morning received its share of a consignment of medical equipment donated by the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations to help combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Ghana has denied entry to 31 passengers who tried to enter the country in the last 24-hours after the government announced new measures on travel restrictions to help contain the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Ghana has suspended its consular services to Italy following the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus in that country.

President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has asked all Ghanaians to observe Wednesday, 25th March, 2020 as a national day of fasting and prayer to seek the face of God in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

A MOMO Agent saw me today and exclaimed in Twi "Eheeeh Bra Panyin, yesi Yari3 be abaa, 3y3 ampaa?" (To wit - "big brother, I hear there's a new disease in town, is it true?). I had to spend time educating her in my mask. There are many like her!

Written By Yaro Kasambata - As of Thursday, April 2, 2020, there have been 938,179 cases and 47,272 death of the Novel Corona Virus (Covid-19) around the world making it the largest global pandemic in human history. The virus has wreaked havoc with varying severity in Asia, Middle East, Europe, America and Africa with and has caused massive disruptions to the health, security, safety of people around the world with looming global economic recession.

Independent presidential candidate, Mr. Marricke Kofi Gane, has called on the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to put the country in lockdown following the rising number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country as well as in neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast.

Ghana’s main opposition political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has declared a three-day national fasting and prayer period against the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has suspended the ongoing mass registration exercise in the Eastern region.

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) has so far tested 166 samples of suspected cases of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana since the outbreak.

A pastor has been busted at North Suntreso in Kumasi for contravening the ban on social gatherings imposed in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak 9COVID-19) in Ghana.

The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Frank Annor Dompreh says that preparation is underway to evacuate Ghanaians in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new coronavirus to Ghana.

Written By Rachel Schraer & Eleanor Lawrie - Conspiracy theories claiming 5G technology helps transmit coronavirus have been condemned by the scientific community.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors Mr. Senyo Hosi and his family made a donation to the 37 Military Hospital yesterday in support of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president of Tanzania says he will send a plane to Madagascar to import a herbal tonic which has been touted as a cure for coronavirus by the country's president.

A few days ago, I posted the following about the Coronavirus:

The United States Embassy in Ghana has announced the suspension of visa applications services following the positive confirmation of 6 coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country in line with the government of Ghana’s effort to contain the spread of the virus by discouraging large gatherings.

The world is grappling with the new coronavirus, which has spread from China to at least 16 other countries.

Written Amadu Massally and Claudia Shilumani - Africa has the opportunity to stop the coronavirus by using a strategy many other countries in the world have not used enough.

Written By Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd) - The yell “bunker” by an instructor during our field tactical training in the coldness of winter sent us poor cadets scurrying into the nearest trench, or bunker if there was one immediately available. “Bunker” was the signal for a simulated incoming nuclear strike, and therefore the command to take cover!

Written By Cecil Kwashie Adadevoh - The Coronavirus-19 is the pandemic that the rest of the world watched and thought of, unfortunately, as a Chinese epidemic, until fast and large volumes of air travel sent the virus to the rest of the world.

Britain has now given around 2 million people a COVID-19 vaccination, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday ahead of a ramp-up in the roll-out of the shots on Monday.

COVID-19 is a numbers game. The progress of the pandemic is tracked through numbers – numbers of people infected, the number of recoveries and deaths are the big columns we all look out for every day.

It appears that all across sub-Saharan Africa, general elections are very much a ‘do-or-die affair’ with violence and allegations of rigging as part of the menu. In many cases, beyond the glossy manifestoes and the fine, high-brow speeches, the political parties run along ethnic and/or religious fault lines and ancient, deep-seated animosities easily light up with the spark of the ballot box.

Written By Prof. Peter Quartey - "Initially, I declined making comments, primarily because I have never witnessed a health pandemic of this nature before. However, after much promptings, I dug into my finance theories bags, and came up with the following comments/forecasts:

Written By By Jerry A. Fianyo - Since theemergence of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the entire world has been thrown into a complete state of turmoil. Even the developed world, armed with all the sophisticated technological advancement in healthcare, hashad a herculean task containing the pandemic on their shores.

Written By Raymond Tuvi - The alarming rate at which the deadly coronavirus is virtually eating up all aspects of social life on earth is compelling all to reconsider what really matters in our relations with each other and with our Creator.

“Conspiracy theories are really attractive. Figuring out patterns is one of the things that get your brain to give you a nice dose of chemical reward, the little ping of dopamine and whatever else that keeps you smiling. As a result, your brain is pretty good at finding patterns and at disregarding information that doesn’t fit. Which means it’s also pretty good at finding false patterns, and at confirmation bias, and a bunch of other things that can be fatal. Our brains are also really good at making us the centre of a narrative because it’s what we evolved for.”

Over seven decades ago Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung stated that “about a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be defined as the general neurosis of our times.” By definition, neurosis is a relatively mild mental illness that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality.

Written By NJ Ayuk - It isn’t breaking news that the world is currently on “lock-down mode.” Around the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has made conditions dire and triggered global economic shutdowns.

President Akufo-Addo has directed that the cost of COVID-19 antigen test at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) be reduced to $50 from $150.

A couple of weeks ago, a discussion that took some space in the media concerned some side effects of COVID-19.

Written By Nii Moi Thompson - The recent advice by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for governments to “spend as much as (they) can and then spend a little bit more” to deal with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is a welcome departure from the fund’s traditional prescriptions of austerity in the midst of economic crises.

Written By King Nobert - There has not been anytime like this where Ghanaians have high expectations from companies and people of affluence to show they care.

The dreaded pandemic means many things to many people. For me, the picture of Black Cuban doctors arriving in Italy in response to an SOS from this European country of white men and women, was a moment of triumph for the Negro Race.

Written By Kofi Wiredu - The COVID-19 virus has undoubtedly caused irreparable effects worldwide.

Written By Mabel Delassie Awuku - “The disease called STIGMA must be treated if we indeed want to see COVID-19 take a bow of defeat”.

Written By Stefan Nalletamby - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact globally, the African continent, while less affected, is preparing to undergo its own severe social and economic crisis. As of April 7, over 10,000 cases have been reported across 52 countries in Africa (less than 1% of cases globally).

Written By Delight Kwame Siameh - COVID-19 is here with us amidst all other health issues, including malaria which still remains an issue of national, regional and global concern. Various preventive measures and public advocacy by media, youth groups, NGOs and others are in the right direction. However, the expected results can only be achieved if everyone makes it a point to follow preventive measures strictly.

The other day, I hinted in not so many words that the lifting of the lockdown shouldn’t only be seen via the lens of the science behind Covid-19. Because, while a lockdown may appear crucial for containment of the disease, a number of unintended consequences of a strict lockdown could have even more debilitating effects. For instance, how will those who need to earn on the daily, in order to eat, cope? How will they be able to pay for medical care for themselves and loved ones who may fall ill, or are currently ill from other non-Covid-19 related ailments? Among other needs?

As the pandemic continues, doctors and researchers are learning more about the symptoms of COVID-19. And, as it turns out, some of them -- like rashes -- may be easy to see.

A number of very important guidelines have been issued worldwide to address the COVID-19 pandemic, namely:
• frequently wash hands under running water with soap for at least twenty seconds
• sanitize hands periodically
• limit the number of face-to-face interactions
• observe basic social distancing protocols, etc.

A few days ago, I posted the following about the Coronavirus: “This is the threat to the global financial system we must guard against.

The makers of COVID-19 vaccines are figuring out how to tweak their recipes against worrisome virus mutations — and regulators are looking to flu as a blueprint if and when the shots need an update.

Written By By Bubu Klinogo, a Journalist.- Ghana’s COVID-19 situation is moving from bad to worse at an alarming rate. Currently, there are 5,786 active cases with 433 deaths out of 68,559 total confirmed cases since the country recorded its first case about a year ago.

The summer that was supposed to mark America’s independence from COVID-19 is instead drawing to a close with the U.S. more firmly under the tyranny of the virus, with deaths per day back up to where they were in March.

The partners in the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator announced grants of $20 million to three institutions—the University of Washington, University of Oxford, and La Jolla Institute for Immunology—to fund clinical trials in order to identify highly potent immunotherapies for the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 vaccine shipments to Africa are rapidly ramping up from multiple sources after a near-halt to deliveries in recent months. Nearly 4 million doses from COVAX arrived in Africa last week, compared with around 2.3 million doses from the facility throughout the month of June.

The entire globe is currently undergoing one of the largest and most complex vaccination campaigns in history, and, not surprisingly, scammers and sellers on the dark market have been eager to make a profit off the process.

Written By Richard Owusu Nyarko - The World Health Organisation (WHO) is not compromising on vaccine efficacy in the fight against COVID-19.

Vodafone Ghana Foundation in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, has trained some medical practitioners in the country on relevant disciplines to support government’s risk communication and public education campaign on COVID-19.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings by two more weeks.

Written By Amos Segbefia - Studies show that, Africa is endowed with more than 60% of the world’s resources. However, Africa remains the poorest of the continents in the world. Many countries in Africa are endowed with oil and mineral reserves that have the potential to transform their economies into first world nations. However, these endowments are seen as a curse rather than a blessing. This is because a majority of their citizens live in abject poverty.

The Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah has gone into a mandatory 14–day self-isolation on the advice of his doctors.

Billboards urging Ghanaians to wear masks in the ongoing battle against the Coronavirus will be pulled down because they used an image of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not wearing a face mask.

This week, I had planned to write on something other than the latest, scary buzzword in town: coronavirus, a.k.a COVID-19.

Confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Ghana has surged by over 400 cases in two days to a total of 2,074.

Written By Efua Idan Atadja - At 11:15pm on Friday, March 27, 2020, Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo in his address to the nation announced some “bold” measures to mitigate the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They included, a partial lockdown of Accra and Tema in the Greater Accra Region, Kasoa in the Central Region and Kumasi in the Ashanti Region; a Coronavirus Alleviation Programme which will see the release of a minimum of GH¢1 billion to households and businesses to address the disruption in economic activities; an extension of the tax filing date from April to June; a two percent reduction of interest rates by banks, effective April 1, 2020; the establishment of a COVID-19 Fund which will receive contributions and donations from the public to assist in the welfare of the needy and the vulnerable; among others. Subsequently, Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in an address to Parliament on Monday, March 30, 2020 said the COVID-19 pandemic is set to cost the nation GH¢9.505 billion.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has come out with the guidelines for the reopening of schools.

The number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ghana has increased to 7.

Ghana's Coronavirus case count has increased to 136 confirmed cases from the 132 recorded on Thursday.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a soft loan scheme for micro, small and medium scale businesses.

The Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Regions remain the two major hotspot regions of COVID-19 cases in Ghana.

In compliance with Covid-19 protocols President Akufo-Addo is voluntarily observing the mandatory 14-day self-isolation prescription after an individual within his inner circle tested positive for the virus.

Written By Dr Nana Dadzie Ghansah - Self-medication, classically defined as "the taking of drugs, herbs or home remedies on one's initiative, or on the advice of another person, without consulting a doctor," is a public health problem seen all over the world.
In Ghana, it is estimated that one in every two Ghanaians is known to self-medicate with drugs obtained from pharmacies or herbal remedies from traditional healers.

The unforgotten ones. Silent and hardly thought about. The news gets focused on the infected, the fatally ill, the dead and the survivors, but hardly on those who get swamped each day, each hour, working tirelessly to save these lives.
The world and, particularly, those of us here in Ghana will do well to stop a minute to celebrate all our frontline medical workers, from doctors to nurses, to pharmacists and all ancillary workers in hospitals and clinics both private and public.

About 100 South African nationals who were in Ghana on short stays were Monday repatriated back home.

Written By Romeo Dowokpor - Tell me why God should bless our homeland Ghana. You, tell me. Yes, tell me.

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity.” -John F. Kennedy

Written By Dr Elliot Koranteng Tannor - It’s big news that a sitting Member of Parliament representing Tema West constituency and the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry in Ghana, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah, who tested positive for COVID-19 was found at some registrations centres (when he was supposed to be in isolation) and has received massive backlash from all Ghanaians including the President of Ghana.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees. It has perforated every facet of life without mercy. It has thrown all the beautiful visions the world had for this year out of gear.

“My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has made me better equipped to face the present.” ― Steve Goodier

The infected COVID-19 patients last year were reported as cases, so the impact of the disease was not quite felt.

Written By Dr Patrick Amoah Bekoe - Pandemics and epidemics have generally changed the course of history of the world. From the Prehistoric epidemic which annihilated the whole city of Hamin Mangha in North Eastern China (Circa 3000 B.C.) through the Plague of Justinian (AD. 541-542), which killed over 25 million in Europe to the HIV/AIDS pandemic which at its peak in 2005 to 2012 killed over 36 million, the world has never been the same after the outbreak of these epidemics and pandemics.
In most cases, this has led to new frontiers in medical research and enhanced both national and cross-border unity.

Scientists at the University of Ghana have obtained critical data about the genetic composition of the COVID-19 strains in Ghana.

More than 1.2 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States arrived in Ghana on Saturday morning.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has outlined some of the trials going on for Covid-19 treatment and vaccination in Africa.

Communist-run Cuba said it dispatched a brigade of doctors and nurses to Italy for the first time this weekend to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus at the request of the worst-affected region Lombardy.

There is the likelihood of a food shortage in Ghana if steps are not taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic as the disease takes a toll on disruptions in the domestic food supply chain and, other shocks affecting food production.

The top U.S. infectious disease official said Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir will become the standard of care for COVID-19 after early results from a key clinical trial on Wednesday showed it helped patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the coronavirus.

On 19th April, 2020, the President of Ghana announced to Ghanaians that he was, effective from 20th April, lifting the “partial lockdown” imposed on the country since 30th March, 2020.

“The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject and so, this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them. Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come when the memory of us will have been effaced.” - Seneca

I am not sure what is in the name delta for this deadly and highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 to have been so christened. I wondered and did not spare a minute to look up the dictionary meaning of the word.

Written By Stephen Tindi - Human dependence on digital media technologies has increased significantly as people try to observe social distancing protocols to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Written By Hillary Adongo - Indeed the year 2020 will go down in record as the year the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) swept through, shook and brought on its knees the economies of the world after the Spanish Flu pandemic a century ago.

Italy’s southern regions warned hundreds of thousands of its people who emigrated to work in the north of the country not to return home, amid fears they will flee a massive no-go zone set up to contain an outbreak of coronavirus.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has issued an advisory regarding the use of face shields in the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Written By Dr Nathanael Adjei-Kyeremeh - Since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, scientists, governments, and the public at large have had to contend not only with the virus itself, but also with misinformation leading to a significant portion of society denying its existence, and calling it a hoax.

U.S. financial markets fell even further on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing more than 2,350 points, almost 10%, in the biggest single-day decline since one of more than 22% in 1987's Black Monday crash.

About 30 people remained trapped early on Sunday after a five-storey hotel being used for coronavirus quarantine collapsed in the southeast Chinese port city of Quanzhou, state media said.

Four Brooklyn Nets players, including Kevin Durant, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total to seven known players in the NBA.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it has not ordered a package of Covid Organics (CVO) medicine from a third country.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has called on heads of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to convene an emergency teleconference to coordinate a sub-region wide response to the COVID-19 disease.

The Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, has proposed the establishment of a major laboratory in the sub-region that would enable member countries to produce vaccines to deal with emerging diseases and viruses.

A doctor arrested after writing an article about Egypt’s fragile health system. A pharmacist picked up from work after posting online about a shortage of protective gear. An editor taken from his home after questioning official coronavirus figures. A pregnant doctor arrested after a colleague used her phone to report a suspected coronavirus case.

The President, by his latest executive instrument (E.I 164), has now made it compulsory for all persons to wear face masks in public spaces. The law is clear in some respects. And blurred in some respects.

Written By By Kojo Pumpuni Asante (PhD) -  Ghana is at an important crossroads. There is a need for a new and sustainable response to contain the alarming spread of the COVID-19 virus amongst the population.

Eli Lilly and Co said on Monday it had started an early-stage trial to test its potential treatment for COVID-19, in the world’s first study of an antibody treatment against the disease.

If ever there was an ambitious project in this country, it must be the 100-bed Infectious Disease Centre being built at the Ga East Municipal Hospital.

At the beginning of the year, I was having a conversation with a friend about what Ghana and Africa should do to enable us to make this elusive breakthrough to economic success.

It is not often I am lost for words nor reduced to total incomprehensive silence. I have lived through quite a number of crises in my long life and have been suitably impressed with how devastating this current global crisis has been.

The one message I have taken to heart among the COVID-19 protocols is that unless it is very important, I stay home.

I sing when I am happy. I sing when I am sad. I sing alone, I sing in choirs, at least I used to and I sing along to songs and music generally.

It was almost an anti-climax when the announcement finally came that a case of Coronavirus, COVID-19, had been confirmed in Ghana.

We have a crisis on our hands. If you start thinking of all the problems this coronavirus has thrown up, you might go mad. I am, therefore, limiting myself to little things that we can do something about.

There are new terms that have entered our everyday language with the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Written By Kofi Korankye Sakyi - The COVID-19 pandemic has so far ravaged countries globally and the economic repercussions of it cannot be overestimated.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) on 3 July approved a grant of $165.08 million to support Ethiopia’s response to the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including helping to ease fiscal pressures on the economy.

The European Union and other countries on Monday called for an independent evaluation of the World Health Organization’s response to the coronavirus pandemic “to review experience gained and lessons learned.”

The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a “best-case scenario.”

Georgetown basketball coach Patrick Ewing tested positive for COVID-19 and is being treated at a hospital.

Contact tracing has been used for decades to control the spread of infectious diseases. The basic idea is simple: track down infected people, then find everyone who has been near them and encourage those people to stay home until it is clear they are not sick.

The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.

 Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will be entering a "modified quarantine" due to exposure to someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Top U.S. health officials are "looking very closely" at reports that a much higher percentage of younger Americans than expected need hospitalization as a result of contracting the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday.

U.S. health officials Saturday agreed to allow emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19, an experimental medicine that President Donald Trump was given when he was sickened last month.

 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency use authorization for the antiviral remdesivir to treat COVID-19.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of Ghana has so far registered 45 companies to produce homemade facemasks, gloves and face shields.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed for chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be used to treat certain hospitalized patients with COVID-19 when a clinical trial was unavailable, or participation in a clinical trial was not feasible.

Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis released Wednesday by U.S. regulators that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic.

Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority has issued a public alert warning against the use of naphthalene (camphor) as an inhalation substance for the treatment of Covid-19.

Dr. Zeke Emanuel, one of the key architects of the Affordable Care Act and a special adviser to the director general of the World Health Organization, said on ABC News’ "Powerhouse Politics" podcast that he doesn’t anticipate life fully returning to normal for another 18 months, based on guidance from health professionals in the Trump administration.

In war, the inevitable death of innocent civilians in the prosecution of an army’s agenda is termed collateral damage. Alan Dershowitz goes further by claiming that asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians.

The past few weeks have been one that will go down the annals of history as one of the most unforgettable ones. Thousands have perished and many more are still perishing. Businesses are on their knees. Gradually, the world's economy is crawling into a recession.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has said his proposal for Parliament to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) to allow the government tap into the Ghana Heritage Fund is to trigger a national debate on the use of the fund.

U.S. financial markets stabilized a bit on Thursday after Wednesday's steep selloff as the coronavirus crisis continues to upend Wall Street.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit society, business and education at a speed that few could predict, and shaken foundations in ways that none could have anticipated. In the news, only a few items escape Covid-19 in the title. On social media it’s memes and fears about the virus. It’s hard for people to remain upbeat in the face of lockdowns, limited social contact and complex working conditions. Or is it?

China ramped up measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic and shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs on Sunday as the first death from the illness was reported outside the country.

Dr.Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, a former Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has been appointed as the Presidential Coordinator for the Government’s Coronavirus Response Programme.

Mauritania, Rwanda, Seychelles and Central African Republic confirmed their first coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing to 23 the number of African countries that have reported positive tests for the virus.

Paris intensive care doctor Jean-Paul Mira apologized Friday for suggesting the testing in Africa of a "repurposed" tuberculosis vaccine as a COVID-19 beater during an expert chat with a colleague on television.

I have two friends in ICU now. One has been on a ventilator for the last 2 weeks, and one is not. Their faces are always on my mind. Every day, I make that call that apprises me on their clinical numbers. I say a prayer. I trust that they both get better. I look forward to seeing them someday soon. There is always my doctor’s mind that never loses sight of the worst case scenario. But I have got to keep pushing the harsh reality of the swelling limbs, the worsening numbers, and how the last CT scan looked. I need to push that reality away, and believe. I have lost a few friends since January. I have to believe I will not lose more. 

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has published a list of 137 markets that will be closed on Monday (March 23, 2020) for disinfection as part of measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Accra.

Fellow Ghanaians,

Good Evening, It is a privilege for me, once again, to come into your homes to speak to you about the state of our common battle against the pandemic of the Coronavirus that is affecting all parts of the world, including our own. Exactly a week ago, I announced the lifting of restrictions on movement of persons resident in Accra, Kumasi, Tema and Kasoa. I did so on the basis of the data and science, as well as on a careful analysis of the impact of the restrictions on several sectors of our population, especially our informal workers, who need to have a day out in order to provide for themselves and their families, the poor and the vulnerable.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

Exactly two weeks ago, I came again into your homes to outline a roadmap for easing the restrictions put in place to help contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in our country. I indicated that it would be a phased approach, involving a selected list of public gatherings, based on their risk profile, socio-economic impact, and, most importantly, our capacity to enforce and to respond, in the event of a flair up in our number of infections.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

It has been three and a half months since we began our fight to defeat the Coronavirus pandemic in the country. It has, so far, been a co-ordinated and enhanced response, with tracing, testing, isolating, treating, and the maintenance of the relevant social distancing and hygiene protocols being the weapons we continue to employ to help contain the spread of the virus.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

Today is the fifteenth (15th) time, since the virus came to our country some five (5) months ago, that I have come to provide you with the status of our co-ordinated efforts to defeat COVID-19. I must thank you, again, for welcoming me into your homes, and I must repeat how proud I am to be your President in these difficult times. I appeal to all of us to continue in our individual and collective efforts to help contain the spread of the virus in our country.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

This is the seventeenth (17th) time that you are kindly opening the doors to your homes to me to enable me brief you about the issue of COVID-19, the steps being taken by Government to eliminate it, and the measures being implemented to ease progressively and safely the restrictions put in place to defeat the virus.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

I wish all of you a happy and prosperous New Year. We have to be thankful to Almighty God for seeing us through 2020, undoubtedly one of the most eventful years in the history of mankind.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

Before I start, let me use this opportunity to thank you all and Almighty God for enabling me to swear, for the second time, the oath of office as President of the Republic. The ceremony took place after I last spoke to you. I promise I will do my very best to live up to your expectations.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

I have not come into your homes for some time, because I had hoped that the next time I did so, I would come to announce that we were ready to lift the restrictions and protocols, and get our lives and economy back to normal. Alas, that is not the case, so it has become necessary for me to come to your homes this evening, after a ten (10) week absence, to provide you with an update on our nation’s COVID-19 situation.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

I have come again, for the tenth (10th) time, into your homes to speak to you about the Coronavirus pandemic, share with you information about the fight against the virus, and outline to you the decisions I have taken about the next chapter of our common battle.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening,

Today, Sunday, 19th April, 2020, is exactly three (3) weeks since I came to you and announced the imposition of restrictions to movement in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Kasoa, and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and its contiguous districts. I explained, at the time, that the decision was taken to give Government the opportunity to try to contain the spread of the virus, scale-up effectively the tracing of persons who had come into contact with infected persons, test them for the virus, and, if necessary, quarantine and isolate them for treatment, should they prove to be positive for the virus.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, thank you for joining us from your various locations this morning. Today marks the end of three days of fasting and prayer declared by our National Chairman last week.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.

Today is the sixth time I am coming into your homes since we begun our collective effort to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, and to implement measures aimed at containing and defeating it.

Leaders of the Group of Seven economic powers promised Friday to immunize the world’s neediest people against the coronavirus by giving money, and precious vaccine doses, to a U.N.-backed vaccine distribution effort.

Health ministers from the Group of 20 major economies discussed weaknesses in health systems that made the world vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak and other pandemics, a statement said after a virtual meeting on Sunday.

Germany announced Sunday that travelers from France’s northeastern Moselle region will face additional restrictions due to the high rate of variant coronavirus cases there.

Germany on Sunday implemented tight border controls on its frontiers with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol province in an effort to stem the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.

Germany, France and other European nations announced plans to resume using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday after EU and British regulators moved to shore up confidence in the shot, saying its benefits outweigh the risks.

The Ghana Football Association has offered the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram to the Government of Ghana to use as an isolation centre in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ghana received the world’s first delivery of coronavirus vaccines from the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative on Wednesday — the long-awaited start for a program that has thus far fallen short of hopes that it would ensure shots were given quickly to the world’s most vulnerable people.

Ghana's Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has confirmed that Ghana has recorded two cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana has increased to 24.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana jumped to 52 on Tuesday, up by 25 from the day before, the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu has revealed.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana has increased to 68.

Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is traveling to the U.S. for “a special medical review” that will delay a parliament hearing expected to confirm his reappointment to his post.

The lockdown continues. An increase in children’s appetite has gone viral, driving down domestic food storage levels everywhere. Even our dog, has been cleaning up her plate on a much more regular basis.

Fellow Ghanaians, good evening. I have come to your homes, once again, as promised, on the matter which continues to grip not only the attention of the nation, but also of the entire world.

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called on president Akufo-Addo to declare a nationwide lockdown.

Ghana is now recording an average of 400 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a day, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey wants the Chinese government to immediately address the inhumane treatment meted out to Ghanaians and other African nationals in China in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ghana is expected to receive about 2.4 million initial doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine by end of February 2021 under the UN COVAX facility, it has been announced.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says the number of confirmed coronavirus in the country has increased to 16.

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count has increased by 427, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5,127.

The confirmed COVID-19 (Coronavirus) case count in Ghana has increased to 1,154.

The Coronavirus disease cases in Ghana have increased by 70 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 636.

Stranded Ghanaians in the United Kingdom (UK) who are ready to bear the cost of their flight home will be given consular assistance by Ghana’s High Commission in London to do so.

A worker at a fish-processing factory in Ghana's Atlantic seafront city of Tema infected 533 other workers at the facility with the coronavirus, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a broadcast late on Sunday.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says Ghana recorded its highest confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on April 25 and has since seen a decline in the number of positive cases.

The Government of Ghana has announced a three-prong strategy for comprehensively responding to the Covid-19 crisis: Testing, Tracing & Treatment.

In her book An Invisible Sign of My Own, Aimee Bender opines, “It is all about numbers. It is all about sequence. It’s the mathematical logic of being alive. If everything kept to its normal progression, we would live with the sadness, cry and then walk but what breaks us cleanest are the losses that happen out of order.”

Written By King Nobert - A herd of cattle can move as slow as the slowest cow but when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and calmed ones at the back that are killed first. This is because the smart and vigilant ones would flee from the danger. This type of attack is good for the herd as a whole because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the attrition of the few calmed and carefree members.

Written By Joe Amoako-Tuffour - We cannot know how society protects its weakest and vulnerable, those at the bottom of society, from deprivation until a catastrophe such as COVID-19, the “unseeable, undead, unliving blob”, to use the words of Arundhati Roy, is unleashed on us.

Ghanaian students in the epidemic-stricken Wuhan in the Hubei Province in China have renewed their appeal to the government for their evacuation.

Gilead Sciences Inc on Monday priced its COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir at $2,340 per patient for wealthier nations and agreed to send nearly all of its supply of the drug to the United States over the next three months.

In Niccolò Machiavelli’s view, “it must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”

 Written By Peter Anti Partey - The effort by countries to attract international students is highly threatened by the continuous global outbreak of infectious diseases.

South Africa announced its first deaths from the coronavirus Friday as the country’s cases rose above 1,000 and a three-week lockdown began, with military patrolling and police screaming at the homeless on quiet streets.

This week, health care providers began administering the first doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. — the third vaccine authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to help stop the coronavirus pandemic.

In the President’s last but one COVID-19 address, he reported the startling finding in a Ghana Health Service (GHS) survey that 82 per cent of people in the sample had the ‘overall intention to use a mask’.

Government says it is working to secure additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in order to ensure that it achieves head immunity by the end of 2021.

Five local manufacturing companies have been selected to start producing nose masks immediately to help fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

Doctors marched with their families and a few friends in Greece's second-largest city Saturday not to protest, but to debunk misinformation about face masks circulating during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Health is set to receive an additional GH¢11 million to help it prepare and contain an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, should it surface in the country.

A few days ago, I called an elderly gentleman who attends my local church to check on him and how he was coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. I was amazed at how relaxed and upbeat he sounded on the phone.

When I saw the word hotspot on the front page of the daily last Friday, my heart lifted. I thought it meant that suddenly, the COVID pandemic was going to be attacked strategically like was promised. I thought that suddenly 25 hotspots had been identified and were going to be shut down. And that the promise that was made long ago, was going to be kept.

Not only does Covid-19 damage the lungs, heart and kidneys, it can also cause severe brain damage – with patients suffering neurological conditions including paranoia and hallucinations, a British scientific study has revealed.

The medical impact of the new coronavirus is coming into sharper focus as it continues its spread in what is now officially recognized as a pandemic.

Can my kids go on a play date? Is it OK if I visit the gym?

Dr. Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of Moderna Therapeutics, said the biotech firm would become the first U.S. company to enter Phase III of a clinical trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Written By Delali Tettey Dzidzienyo - The "No mask, no entry" policy is in full force around Ghana, and I can tell from all the visible shop decals that property owners are enforcing it to the letter. But a mask is a mask and a mask, branded or not. You need the right mask on to help fight the spread of COVID-19…….

“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), says Ghana has effectively managed the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written By Henry Teinor - The fangs of the new Coronavirus, since its appearance in late 2019, have cut through all sectors of national economies leaving nothing unscathed.

China reported on Tuesday another rise in confirmed coronavirus cases as infections from abroad made it increasingly hard for authorities to reduce the overall number of new infections to zero.

President Donald Trump, who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spread, donned one on Saturday at a military medical facility outside Washington where he was to meet with wounded soldiers and front-line health-care workers.

 Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.

Independent presidential candidate, Mr. Marricke Kofi Gane, has called on the government to show leadership in the fight against the looming threat posed by the possible spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) within the country.

India on Sunday banned the export of anti-viral drug Remdesivir and its active pharmaceutical ingredients as demand rocketed due to a record surge in COVID-19 infections and led to crippling shortages in many parts.

Britain’s health minister says a fast-spreading coronavirus variant first identified in India is likely to become the dominant strain of the virus in the U.K.

As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting.

Iran imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country on Saturday to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported.

Written By Albert Quashigah - On the day of Ghana’s 63rd Anniversary, on CNN, United States Vice-President, Mike Pence, not only addressed the Americans, but with a team of coronavirus TaskForce made up of doctors, he took questions on a wide range of issues on the marauding disease.

On 11th April, 2020, I wrote a blogpost warning that if the government of Ghana fails to get its data management under control, it will start to lose public trust, regardless of how well the actual management of the Covid-19 outbreak itself was going.

The Information Services Department (ISD) recently organised a day's training workshop for its Municipal, District Information officers, and commentators to help them educate the public on the novel coronavirus disease.

Israel has approved a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to COVID-19, an official said Thursday, becoming one of the first countries to do so as it braces for a wave of infections fueled by the omicron variant.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says it is in the collective interest of all Ghanaians to take the Covid-19 vaccine rolled out by the government to aid the bid to get the deadly virus out of the country.

An Italian man who arrived in Nigeria three days ago has become the African country’s first case of coronavirus, the health minister said on Friday, as infections spread rapidly worldwide.

Italy's government has expanded travel restrictions to the entire country, locking down some 60 million people in an effort to contain the coronavirus.

Italy is preparing fresh nationwide restrictions, including on private parties, in response to a recent spike in new coronavirus cases, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Sunday.

Italy recommended on Wednesday that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot only be used on those over 60 and Britain that people under 30 should get an alternative, due to possible links between the vaccine and very rare cases of blood clots.

Pope Francis and Italy’s president on Saturday marked a newly established annual day to honor doctors, nurses and other health care workers, exactly one year after the nation’s first known native case of COVID-19 emerged.

Johnson & Johnson asked U.S. regulators Thursday to clear the world’s first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that could boost scarce supplies.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) said on Tuesday it will resume rolling out its COVID-19 vaccine in Europe after the region’s medical regulator said the benefits of the shot outweigh the risk of very rare, potentially lethal blood clots.

The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. John Boadu, has chastised the Tema West Member of Parliament and Deputy Trade Minister, Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah.

It is day 20 of the lockdown, and the 5th consecutive Sunday that I have not joined others to fellowship at church.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

A Florida judge ruled Wednesday that the state cannot enforce a ban on public schools mandating the use of masks to guard against the coronavirus, while an appeals court sorts out whether the ban is ultimately legal.

Residents of a slum in Kenya's capital have protested the death of a homeless man who they said was killed by police for violating a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the coronavirus.

Recommendations on how to protect ourselves from contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 are everywhere, like washing your hands, wearing a mask, and staying at least 6 feet away from people outside your home. But not all risks are created equal; home, public transportation and the grocery store all have different challenges.

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Incas Diagnostics, a diagnostic company in Kumasi have developed and are optimising Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) for COVID-19 testing.

The Korle Bu Polyclinic has reopened after it was closed down to make way for disinfection.

Health officials in Missouri are alerting those who attended Memorial Day weekend parties at the Lake of the Ozarks that a partygoer there has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”

Written By Grace Ayensu-Danquah - President Akuffo Addo’s decision to lift a stay-at-home order in Accra, Kumasi and Tema at a time when the spread of COVID-19 had not been contained surprised many. But while the nation has lifted its lockdown, we cannot lift our vigilance.

Former President John Mahama has asked the government to publish plans on how it intends to protect the economy in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Happy Easter my fellow countrymen and women. Today is day 14 (two weeks) since the partial lockdown declared by the President in some parts of Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, and Kasoa due to the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

A cascading number of European countries — including Germany, France, Italy and Spain — suspended use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and international regulators say there is no evidence the shot is to blame.

Fellow Ghanaians,

I sincerely wished today was an opportunity to talk about something more joyous. It isn't. Nevertheless, we must constantly confront our realities and find pragmatic ways of moving forward.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell implored unvaccinated Americans Tuesday to take the COVID-19 shot, issuing a stark and grave warning of a repeat of last year's rising caseloads and shutdowns if people refuse to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

In a potential leap forward in the global fight against the pandemic, drugmaker Merck said Friday that its experimental pill for people sick with COVID-19 reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half.

Mexican health authorities announced Friday that they had confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in Mexico.

About a month ago, the Chinese hospitals were overflowing with COVID-19 patients, now they are having empty beds. Trials of experimental drugs are having difficulty enrolling enough eligible patients. And the number of new cases reported each day has plummeted the past few weeks.

The Minority in Parliament believes that Ghana is recording high numbers of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections because President Akufo-Addo failed to take actions early and instead decided to tour Europe.

For a virus that takes delight in working through crowds and with a DNA of person to person transmission, I cringe at the news that churches are to reopen this weekend.

Corks popped, beats boomed out and giddy revelers rushed onto dancefloors when England’s nightclubs reopened Monday as the country lifted most remaining restrictions after more than a year of lockdowns, mask mandates and other pandemic-related curbs on freedom.

Written By Awal Ahmed Kariama - “When you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn't behave as if you were throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in his hunger.” - Giovanni Guareschi

Moderna Inc said on Monday it was informed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) certain documents related to pre-submission talks of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate were unlawfully accessed in a cyberattack on the medicines regulator.

Moderna said Monday it plans to expand the size of its COVID-19 vaccine study in younger children to better detect rare side effects, such as a type of heart inflammation recently flagged by U.S. health authorities.

Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared set for regulatory authorization this week after U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff endorsed it as safe and effective in documents released Tuesday.

A coronavirus variant that was first detected in Brazil has emerged in Oregon, the first known case of the new variant on the contiguous U.S. West Coast, medical authorities said Tuesday.

Twelve countries in the African region are now experiencing local transmission.

The Ashanti Region has recorded the youngest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) confirmed patient, as the figures in the region soared by 10 more to 163 in one week.

Written By Theresa Owusu Ako - Though Covid-19 has brought in its wake so much anguish, devastation, real havoc including deaths and heavy economic downturn, the disease has however compelled the world to engage in serious thinking outside the box. There is now an innovation galore. Though many businesses have collapsed, others are booming especially the giant pharmaceutical companies and other industries and individuals who produce Personal Protective Equipment such as gowns, sanitisers, liquid soap, nose masks and tissue paper.

The Ghanaian Muslim Community has presented a cheque for 130,000 to the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.

The onset and continuous spread of Coronavirus (COVID -19) has taken a strong toll on all facets of people’s lives across the world, Ghana included.

Written By Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye - Many people all over the world have been quite anxious about the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Many have lost their loved ones, their livelihoods and even their minds from the impact of this pandemic. On March 12, 2020, Ghana confirmed its first cases of COVID-19.

On Sunday evening, I began to pen an open letter to the President through this column.

Ghanaians of all faiths are expected to fast and pray today ( Wednesday March 25, 2020) to the almighty God to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

New guidance from the federal government set off a cascade of mask rules across the nation Wednesday as cities, states, schools and businesses raced to restore mandates and others pushed back against the guidelines at a time when Americans are exhausted and confused over constantly shifting pandemic measures.

Deaths continue to mount from the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, with Australia, Thailand and Japan reporting new fatalities.

Another mutated version of the coronavirus has popped up in New York City, and experts reacted to the the news with a mixture of caution and concern.

New Zealand marked 100 days without a domestic transmission of the coronavirus on Sunday, but warned against complacency as countries like Vietnam and Australia which once had the virus under control now battle a resurgence in infections.

The northern Nigeria economic powerhouse state of Kano will impose a seven-day lockdown to contain an outbreak of the new coronavirus, a spokesman for the governor said on Tuesday.

Written By Albert Quashigah - In his seventh address on the update on the COVID-19 fight, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo lifted the partial lockdown imposed on some parts of the country. As a result, people in Kasoa, Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and Greater Accra Metropolitan Area had their freedom to move about without being asked questions by the security personnel.

A Senior Research Fellow at the Immunology Department of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Kwadwo Asamoah, has called for assistance from waste management and disinfection experts, Zoomlion Ghana Limited in the form of disinfecting the institute on a monthly basis.

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) of the University of Ghana has recommended that the government to take a second look at the state of adherence to COVID-19 preventive protocols and appropriate restrictions.

The Denmark Branch of the NPP has generously donated items to help the party fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost.

It is with concern I write openly. The world is in a tough place health-wise and our collective safety can only be secured by us unifying. With 80,348 infections worldwide, our closest brush was 20+ suspect cases in Ghana, we’re told tested negative. We're still concerned:

I know a little about stigma. It was the year 2005. I had just finished my first surgical residency exam. I had left Battor and spent three weeks in Accra burning through anatomy, physiology and histology pages. I battled sleep, tiredness, I pushed through the days, until the final one when I stood in front of the examiners. And they told me 30 minutes after the exam, that I had passed. That was just how things were done. You knew your fate, almost as soon as you finished the exam.

Nearly 1 in 4 Americans were under orders to close up shop and stay at home on Saturday, as lawmakers in Washington neared a deal that could pump a record $1 trillion into the economy to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus.

Written By Dr. Nana Sifa Twum - Exactly a year ago, Ghana announced the first two recorded Coronavirus cases in the country. This was after few months that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the disease a public health emergency of international concern. It became the highest level of alarm under international law. The WHO published an interactive timeline showcasing how the organization has taken action on information, science, leadership, advice, response and resourcing. A year on, Ghana’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 656, with active case standing at 4,782 with 272 new cases recorded, leading to 86,737 total confirmed cases. Experts are of the opinion that the figures might have been terrible but for the pragmatic and prudent measures put in by the Government, which was hailed across the globe. Ghana is said to have been one of the world’s best countries to have managed the spread of COVID-19 very well.

Dear Mr President, May I share these few thoughts as you prepare for your update number 22 on measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many Ghanaians, I am worried about the spike in cases of the coronavirus in our country.

The World Health Organization's Regional Office For Africa (WHO) has warned of the threat posed by COVID-19 to health workers across Africa. More than 10 000 health workers in the 40 countries which have reported on such infections have been infected with COVID-19 so far, a sign of the challenges medical staff on the frontlines of the outbreak face.

Stranded Ghanaians in the United States of America (USA) who are ready to bear the cost of their flight home are to be given consular assistance by the Ghana Embassy in the USA to do so.

She wakes every day long before dawn to chat with her three stranded daughters on the other side of the world in China's locked-down city of Wuhan, anxious to see they have started a new day virus-free.

Parliament has passed the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) National Trust Fund Bill, 2020, under a certificate of urgency.

More than 40 people were infected with the coronavirus after attending a multi-day revival event at a north Alabama Baptist church, according to the congregation's pastor.

“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself within a dark wood where the straightway was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear!” –Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy

To address gaps in information dissemination and the sheer volume of information disorder the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about in Ghana, Penplusbytes in collaboration with other civil society partners is launching a citizens-focused feedback and information hub that is designed to give continuous updates on various government interventions intended to reduce the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on Ghanaians.

In a promising development, an initial glimpse at the data from Pfizer's ongoing late-stage clinical trial shows that the company's vaccine is more effective at preventing COVID-19 than placebo.

 Pfizer, the first vaccine maker to become authorized in the U.S., on Friday asked federal regulators to authorize its vaccine for kids as young as 12, insisting that recent clinical trials showed it’s both safe and effective.

U.S. regulators on Monday expanded the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children as young as 12, offering a way to protect the nation’s adolescents before they head back to school in the fall and paving the way for them to return to more normal activities.

Data shows the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11, the companies announced Monday morning.

Pfizer is about to seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, saying Thursday that another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the latest worrisome coronavirus mutant.

COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots, according to data from a real-world U.S. study released on Monday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there are "enormous" signs that the novel coronavirus outbreak originated a biomedical laboratory in Wuhan, China -- the city where cases first exploded.

Pope Francis said on Sunday he will this week deliver an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing - normally given only at Christmas and Easter - and called for worldwide prayer to respond to the coronavirus crisis.

In his New Year’s wishes to the world, Pope Francis encouraged people Saturday to focus on the good which unites them and decried violence against women while acknowledging that the coronavirus pandemic has left many scared and struggling amid economic inequality.

South Africa's numbers of COVID-19 are “rising fast,” according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who says that he's worried.

Written By Adib Saani - The President HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won international admiration with his acclaimed statement, "we know what to do to bring our economy back to life. What we do not know how to do is to bring people back to life".

The plot thickens. There is talk of peaks, and curve flattening in the atmosphere of a pandemic gathering speed. Physical distancing seems like a dismissed fairy tale. A lockdown seems like that unachievable haven, that could just have offered some security… but the door is closed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday voiced hope for a quick approval of the country’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine by the World Health Organization, saying the move is essential to expand its global supplies.

Adam Smith in “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” argues that, “the prudent man is always sincere, and feels horror at the very thought of exposing himself to the disgrace which attends upon the detection of falsehood. But though always sincere, he is not always frank and open; and though he never tells anything but the truth, he does not always think himself bound, when not properly called upon, to tell the whole truth. As he is cautious in his actions, so he is reserved in his speech; and never rashly or unnecessarily obtrudes his opinion concerning either things or persons.”

The 16th COVID-19 broadcast by President Akufo-Addo was highly anticipated for obvious reasons. First, was the issue of re-opening of the country’s airspace. Second, was the re-opening of schools for Basic school pupils and first- and second-year students to get back into the classroom for contact lessons to re-start to banish the “apparition” that has supposedly enveloped Ghana’s education system, since schools were shut way back in March.

New coronavirus infections hit record highs in six U.S. states on Tuesday, marking a rising tide of cases for a second consecutive week as most states moved forward with reopening their economies.

Thirteen international airlines have indicated their readiness to resume scheduled flights to Ghana following the opening of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), giving hope to the country’s troubled travel and tourism industry.
Although some of the international airlines, including Ethiopian, KLM, BA, Emirates and South African Airlines, flew intermittently into the country when the borders were closed, they were mainly on charter basis.

The Arab Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Program, led by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) (www.ITFC-IDB.org) has granted emergency funding to the Republic of Benin to facilitate its COVID-19 ‘Screen-Isolate-Treat’ strategy as it fights to halt the spread of the virus.

Written By Dzifa Vanderpuye - It is undeniable – the COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head, and employment contracts have not been spared.

Written By Dr. Antwi Boniface Yeboah - The increasing number of reported infections in the battle against the Coronavirus should not leave us troubled and hopeless. Instead, it should revive the can-do-spirit of the Ghanaian in us all.

Results from two new South Korean studies shed light on whether antibodies will be a reliable form of protection against COVID-19 for those who have recovered from the disease.

As President Donald Trump threatens to cut funding to schools that don't reopen in the fall and continues to host mega-rallies as cases of coronavirus increase, there appears to be a growing rift between the Trump White House and its top health advisers.

When Yekaterina Kobzeva, a nurse at a preschool in Russia’s Ural Mountains, began having trouble breathing, she called an ambulance. It was four days before she managed to find a free hospital bed.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has initiated an administrative inquiry into the alleged stealing and selling of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana at GH¢200 per jab.

Written By Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings - The current crisis situation caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is taking a toll on lives globally, with women being the worst hit.

Over the past few weeks, coronavirus has wreaked a lot of havoc across the globe of which Ghana is no exception. Taking advantage of the current lockdown, Scribe Productions has launched an "ALL OR NONE" campaign to encourage Ghanaians to adhere to the safety precautions laid out by the government.

The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has appealed to people who have arrived in the country but might have missed the mandatory quarantine to adhere to the self-quarantine advice in order to help prevent the horizontal or community spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Please, please, please, do not be swayed by the legendary levels of stupidity and ignorance portrayed by some idle-minded people who are parading themselves as paragons of information about the spread of covid-19 as being caused by 5G networks and something about vaccines and Bill Gates.

Conspiracy theories are not new to Africa. Bitter lessons from the recent past, especially during the cold-war era and revelations from WikiLeaks and recently declassified CIA files have created enough fodder to feed into such narratives. The threat of new vaccine tests as a source of dominance over the African continent, laughable as it is, holds firm in such narratives due to the inherited paranoia and lessons from the previous generation.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first case of COVID-19 in the Senate and raising fears about the further transmission of the virus among Republicans at the Capitol.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it his red line: liability protection for schools, businesses and other entities hat reopen amid the pandemic must be part of any new coronavirus relief package.

At least 285 U.S. children have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to the coronavirus and while most recovered, the potential for long-term or permanent damage is unknown, two new studies suggest.

Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, sees AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate as a “very good” option, giving it a major vote of confidence after some experts raised questions around its trial data.

It’s 7 p.m. on a Friday night, a time when Aurel Johannes Marx’s three-room brothel on the edge of Berlin would normally be preparing for its first customers. Sex for sale has long been a staple part of the German capital’s freewheeling nightlife. But amid concerns over the new coronavirus, even the world’s supposedly oldest profession is suffering a sudden slump.

I am not sharing fear and panic if I state that we haven’t yet seen the worst of the current trouble we are in. You only need to see the figures and the graph of the rise and rise of the coronavirus in Ghana to realise that more infections of COVID-19 will be discovered.

A curious thing happened about a week ago. The Government of Ghana, which has been touting its investments into Covid-19 testing capacity to universal acclaim, as the country galloped up the continental league tables, suddenly found itself in the dock. Before long, prominent health leaders in the country were accusing the Government of massaging testing numbers for PR benefits.

Should vaccinated people mask up with COVID-19 cases rising?

Singapore reported 40 new coronavirus cases on Friday, mainly imported infections from the United Kingdom, and advised further social distancing measures in its fight against the pandemic.

Scientists are reporting troubling signs that some recent mutations of the virus that causes COVID-19 may modestly curb the effectiveness of two current vaccines, although they stress that the shots still protect against the disease.

South Africa launched a new COVID-19 vaccination drive Friday and will try to give doses to 500,000 people in two days to reinvigorate a flagging campaign that’s coming up against hesitancy and complacency in the continent’s worst-affected country.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday that his country will return to stricter lockdown measures in the face of a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases that indicate the virus is “surging again” in Africa’s worst-affected nation.

South Africa on Sunday said it would suspend its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after initial trials showed "disappointing" results against the B.1.351 variant of COVID-19 .

Battling a fast-increasing surge of COVID-19 cases, South Africa has reintroduced tough restrictions including a ban on alcohol sales and an extended nightly curfew.

South Africa will assign levels of lockdown restrictions for each of the country’s roughly 50 districts, depending on the number of active coronavirus infections there, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.

South Africa’s coronavirus cases jumped to 402 Monday, up 128 from the day before, continuing worrying exponential growth and making it the country with the most cases in Africa.

South Africa will enforce a three-week lockdown over coronavirus, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Monday.

The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can “break through” Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed.

 South America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again.

South Korean authorities said on Sunday they will move ahead with a coronavirus vaccination drive this week, after deciding to continue using AstraZeneca PLC’s vaccine for all eligible people 30 years old or over.

South Korea warned of a second wave of the new coronavirus on Sunday as infections rebounded to a one-month high, just as the authorities were starting to ease some pandemic restrictions.

A Spanish man with COVID-19 symptoms who coughed on work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus” has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people.

In late January, South Korean health officials summoned representatives from more than 20 medical companies from their lunar New Year celebrations to a conference room tucked inside Seoul’s busy train station.

The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.

The Dubai businessman at the centre of the botched Sputnik V procurement deal, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum has refunded $2.4million to the Ghanaian government.

A member of Vice President Mike Pence's staff has tested positive for the coronavirus, Pence's office said Friday night.

As many as 60 countries, including some of the world’s poorest, might be stalled at the first shots of their coronavirus vaccinations because nearly all deliveries through the global program intended to help them are blocked until as late as June.

As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, researchers studying possible treatments have found a commonly used steroid called dexamethasone that might help save one-third of patients who end up on ventilators.

In another dispiriting setback for the nation’s efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, scientists who studied a big COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts concluded that vaccinated people who got so-called breakthrough infections carried about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots.

Pre-tertiary Education Unions have warned against any plans in the immediate by the Ghana Education Service, to reopen schools.

The governor of a southern Italian region insisted on Friday that residents of an apartment complex quarantine inside for 15 days, not even venturing out to buy food, after dozens of COVID-19 cases among Bulgarian seasonal farm workers and Italians who live there were confirmed.

The new coronavirus can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as two to three days, tests by U.S. government and other scientists have found.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday decreed that face masks must be worn in all counties with over 20 coronavirus cases, billing the measure as a requirement to avoid another economic shutdown.

A major Texas hospital system has reported its first case of the lambda COVID-19 variant, as the state reels from the rampant delta variant.

William H. McNeill wrote in Plagues and Peoples sometime in 1976 that “It is obvious that human (and non-human) diseases are evolving with an unusual rapidity simply because changes in our behaviour facilitate cross-fertilization of different strains of germs as never before, while an unending flow of new medicines (and pesticides) also present infectious organisms with rigorous, changing challenges to their survival.”

“But then we get exhausted and we wonder if we can accomplish any of the things we hope for, without destroying ourselves in the process. We ask ourselves if it’s time to quit.”

“To be careless in making decisions is to naively believe that a single decision impacts nothing more than that single decision, for a single decision can spawn a thousand others that were entirely unnecessary or it can bring peace to a thousand places we never knew existed.”

Written By Charles Neequaye - Two harrowing experiences shared by two patients of the Covid-19 disease showed how painful it is to be a victim of the disease. There is therefore the need to pray for divine intervention to help Ghana overcome this deadly monster that has plagued this country within the shortest time. I heard the first victim of the disease was interviewed on an Accra-based radio station last week in which he narrated his harrowing condition when he was attacked by the virus.

Written By Dr. Elliot Koranteng Tannor - The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world with devastating effects. Most countries have declared lockdowns in various forms at different times as a way to curb the spread of this novel Coronavirus. The lifestyles of people have generally changed with great economic and social burden.

The whole world is in comatose. Initially viewed as a public health concern, the emergence of Coronavirus (Covid–19) is taking an economic dimension with unprecedented economic effects on countries. Following its outbreak in China, Covid–19 has spread across almost every part of the globe with higher deaths in US, Italy, Spain, China, South Korea among others. Indeed, this pandemic has proven to be much dangerous than previous outbreaks (like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003) with long–term negative economic impacts occasioned by lockdowns, job losses, productivity cuts and revenue headwinds.

“To each, there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.” -Winston Churchill

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says the new COVID-19 variants from the United Kingdom (UK) are spreading faster and widely among the Ghanaian population, with higher disease burden.

Written By NJ Ayuk - Including Nigeria in the U.S. travel ban is a political and economical mistake for Trump.

When the coronavirus pandemic reached Ghana and a partial lockdown was imposed in the West African nation at the end of March, Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta sought to protect her loved ones and fellow citizens.

Ghana is on a partial lockdown. Most businesses have ceased. Life has almost come to a standstill. A virus we cannot see is threatening our lives and everything around us. Who ever thought a day would come that man, despite all his sophistication, would bolt at the name of a virus!?

 A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the first known case of a human infecting an animal and making it sick, the zoo’s chief veterinarian said on Sunday.

Written By Dr. Owusu Banahene - Over the past week or so, several African countries, such as, Ghana, Kenya Rwanda and South Africa have announced the closure of their borders, including airports, barring anyone from entering or leaving.

Written By Dr Nana Kwaku Duah - COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on global economy. Educational systems worldwide have been affected, leading to near closure of schools and universities.

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has procured over 20,000 branded reusable cloth nose masks to be distributed to the vulnerable in the municipality.

“It felt like waiting for something to happen. Which has to be the worth part of being young. So many of your decisions aren’t yours; they’re made by other people. Sometimes they’re made badly by other people. Sometimes they’re made by other people who have no idea what the consequences of those decisions might be.”

The Nigerian president’s influential chief of staff has tested positive for coronavirus, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday capped a tumultuous week as Americans faced sweeping life changes and massive Wall Street losses amid the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak by turning to a familiar playbook: attacking the media.

President Donald Trump's resistance to wearing a mask is well-known and he's never done so in front of news cameras.

With lives and the economy hanging in the balance, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is hoping the country will be reopened by Easter, as he weighs how to refine nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak.

 President Donald Trump’s idea of golf getting back to normal is having thousands of fans who aren’t wearing masks in attendance and “practically standing on top of each other.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that catching the coronavirus was a “blessing from God” that exposed him to experimental treatments he vowed would become free for all Americans, in his first video message since leaving hospital.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is halting funding for the World Health Organization pending a review of its response to the initial coronavirus outbreak after the organization criticized his restrictions on travel from China.

U.S. President Donald Trump moved on Wednesday to accelerate production of desperately needed medical equipment to battle the coronavirus pandemic and said an estimate that U.S. unemployment could conceivably reach 20 percent was a worst case scenario.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he is terminating the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus, saying the WHO had essentially become a puppet organization of China.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had taken a coronavirus test but that his temperature was “totally normal,” as he extended a travel ban to Britain and Ireland to try to slow the spread of a pandemic that has shut down much of the daily routine of American life.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday his hard-fought trade deal with China was now of secondary importance to the coronavirus pandemic and he threatened new tariffs on Beijing, as his administration crafted retaliatory measures over the outbreak.

In an extraordinary exchange, President Donald Trump and the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, publicly sparred Friday on whether a malaria drug would work to treat people with coronavirus disease.

Gliding over significant challenges still to come, President Donald Trump offered a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus as he delivered his first public remarks since his defeat by President-elect Joe Biden. He still did not concede the election.

The Trades Unions Congress (TUC) has commended the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for granting the country an interest-free loan that was not accompanied by “the usual IMF Conditionalities,” something that organised labour had long criticised.

Two Italian nationals who tried to enter Ghana from the epicentre of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were prevented from entering Ghana Monday night, [March 16, 2020].

Two members of Congress from Massachusetts have tested positive for the coronavirus, one after receiving both doses of the vaccine, a reminder that people can still be vulnerable to infection after being vaccinated, particularly in the two weeks after receiving the second dose.

As coronavirus cases exploded across the world, federal medical workers tasked with screening incoming passengers at U.S. airports grew alarmed: Many were working without the most effective masks to protect them from getting sick themselves.

 U.S. health officials on Saturday confirmed an eighth case of the fast-spreading new coronavirus in the United States and the Pentagon said it would provide housing for people arriving from overseas who might need to be quarantined.

The United States could become the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as India announced a full 24-hour, nationwide lockdown in the world’s second-most populous country.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will “rapidly” work towards granting emergency approval of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on Thursday.

More than three dozen U.S. states were seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, according to a Reuters tally on Thursday and the nation set a new record with more than 51,000 infections in a single day as a fresh wave of the pandemic spread across the nation.

Demonstrations to demand an end to stay-at-home measures that have pummelled the U.S. economy spread to Texas on Saturday as the governor at the epicentre of the U.S. coronavirus crisis said his state of New York may finally be past the worst.

The British government is gearing up to ban international arrivals from four more countries — Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan and the Philippines — amid concerns over new virus variants but opted against including European nations that are facing a resurgence of the virus.

Britain’s vaccination programme has so far reached more than 14.5 million people and is seen as one of few successes in the government’s handling of a pandemic in which the country has suffered a higher death toll and worse economic damage than its peers. The UK’s total population is about 67 million.

Shocking but it is true. Strange United Kingdom (UK) variants of COVID-19 said to be more ferocious than the one we knew in 2020, have escaped from the cold and made their way to the warm weather in Ghana.

British health authorities said on Sunday there had been 12 new cases of coronavirus in Britain, bringing the total to 35.

The prime minister of the U.K. Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus after developing mild symptoms.

Hailing it as a tested killer of the novel coronavirus, New York City transit officials announced on Tuesday that they are launching a pilot program using ultraviolet light to disinfect its subway cars and buses.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic threatens Africa’s progress and could push millions into extreme poverty.

Actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Idris Elba and actress, model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba today launched a new global coronavirus relief fund on behalf of the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to prevent economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic from triggering a global hunger and food crisis.

The United Nations has selected Ghana’s capital, Accra, along with a few others to set up Africa-wide regional hubs for its humanitarian operations in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the anti-malarial drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date.

Written By Mark Ofori Nketia - 5G is the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies for cellular data networks. In a span of about four decades, we have seen various generations such as 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Before the first generation, there was the 0G (Zero generation).

“You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.”

Written By Tulbire Ania Solomon - Undoubtedly, the greatest of all disruptive viral infections in history is coronavirus, popularly known as COVID-19. In fact the World had witnessed all kinds Infections, but none has ever caused as much headache for virologists and epidemiologists as COVID-19.

Related: COVID-19: Univ of Ghana scientists obtain "critical information" to track virus

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine believe that they’ve found a potential vaccine for the new coronavirus.

Walt Whitman in Walt Whitman’s Camden Conversations argues “I like the scientific spirit, the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them. This is ultimately fine, it always keeps the way beyond open, always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake, after a wrong guess.”

“Accepting death doesn’t mean you won’t be devastated when someone you love dies. It means you will be able to focus on your grief, unburdened by bigger existential questions like, “Why do people die?” and “Why is this happening to me?” Death isn’t happening to you. Death is happening to us all.”

The Upper East Region has recorded three more cases of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the total number of cases in the region to 4.

U.S. health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic.

The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.

The U.S. government’s effort to vaccinate millions of Americans against the coronavirus pandemic is lagging, new health officials in President Joe Biden’s administration conceded Sunday. But they held out hope that the campaign to curb the virus will markedly improve within three months.

Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID-19 infections, the director of the National Institutes of Health said Sunday the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to Americans this fall.

Health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, an influential government advisory panel said Tuesday.

The U.S. gave full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday, potentially boosting public confidence in the shots and instantly opening the way for more universities, companies and local governments to make vaccinations mandatory.

The U.S. is setting up a $1.7 billion national network to identify and track worrisome coronavirus mutations whose spread could trigger another pandemic wave, the Biden administration announced Friday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned Saturday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, as regional outbreaks gave rise to fears of a second wave. Two of the largest U.S. states reversed course and reinstated some coronavirus restrictions amid a surge in new infections.

U.S. health officials lifted an 11-day pause on COVID-19 vaccinations using Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot on Friday, after scientific advisers decided its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clot.

“Objectivity of truth, reality, facts, data – they matter; otherwise, you have the ‘good guys’, the moral persons, in the name of what they call justice, in a fight against what they call injustice, unwittingly adopting the roles of oppressors by persecuting the innocent.”

Violet light bathed the club stage as 300 people, masked and socially distanced, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the pandemic began, Israeli musician Aviv Geffen stepped to his electric piano and began to play for an audience seated right in front of him.

At the small hospital where Dr. Oumaima Djarma works in Chad’s capital, there are no debates over which coronavirus vaccine is the best.

“We are sometimes astounded by the behaviour of emotional outlaws, as they act in line with their own standards, but proceed like bulls-in-a-china-shop, create one heck of a mess in their living environment and bring about shocking disturbing dissensions, ever since their inner construction clashes with our emotional architecture.”

No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic.

Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices.

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognize the opportunity.” John F. Kennedy

The GAVI vaccines alliance said on Thursday it had raised $8.8 billion from international donor governments, companies and philanthropic foundations to fund its immunisation programmes through to 2025.

“Remember: It’s not your fault that things are the way they are, but it is your responsibility to do something about them.” Elena Aguilar

Written By Prof. Patrick Twumasi - Varied recordings of the corona virus, COVID-19, infection from continents and countries suggest fundamental differences in prevailing conditions and factors at locations to favour or hinder the infectivity of the virus in humans. This writeup explores possible linkages existing between the pathology of COVID-19 and identified demographic factors in countries currently experiencing the effect of the deadly virus.

Vietnam plans to test all 9 million people in its largest city for the coronavirus and imposed more restrictions Monday to deal with a growing COVID-19 outbreak.

A virus is an inanimate particle with the capacity to hijack the reproductive capacity of a living being, to produce more of itself. It has no capacity to do anything on its own. It is just a strand of genetic code surrounded by protein membrane. It is even incapable of protecting itself, but give it one chance. And it does not discriminate. Animal cell, human cell. As long as it has a nucleus, it’s game time.

Some things never change: the one who looks after my car is still in Korle Bu.  So this week, whilst waiting for him to fix the trauma that the Spintex roads have inflicted, I took a walk.  I retraced steps from my primary school alma mater, along the still pavement-less roads onto the hospital campus. 

On the final approach home, there is a turn unto a narrow dirt road. It is a left turn over an open gutter, with a limited concrete bridge of a cover. In the centre of the bridge, there is a hole, just big enough for a car tyre to get trapped in.

Following reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently applauded the efforts of China, initially the worse hit country, over the containment of the COVID-19, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Shi Ting Wang (Mr Wang), granted an exclusive interview to the Daily Graphic’s Doreen Andoh (DA) on how China was currently using its experiences and lessons to support the global fight, particularly in Ghana and Africa. Below are excerpts of the interview.

Young German adults hold “corona parties” and cough toward older people. A Spanish man leashes a goat to go for a walk to skirt confinement orders. From France to Florida to Australia, kitesurfers, college students and others crowd the beaches.

A new variant of the coronavirus emerged Thursday in the United States, posing yet another public health challenge in a country already losing more than 3,000 people to COVID-19 every day.

The Juapong market in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region has been closed down with immediate effect as part of intensified safety measures to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the region.

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, has stressed the need for strict adherence to preventive measures against COVID-19 in order to mitigate its spread.

A voluntary mass testing programme for the coronavirus disease is to be rolled out in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region as part of efforts to help curtail the spread of the disease in the area.

Wall Street suffered its biggest drop since 1987 on Monday, with the S&P 500 closing at its lowest level since December 2018, as investors fear the coronavirus pandemic is proving a tougher opponent than central banks, lawmakers or the White House are currently capable of battling.

 U.S. stocks deepened their selloff on Wednesday and the Dow effectively erased the last of its gains since U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, as repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic threatened to cripple economic activity.

Washington, D.C., officials confirmed that a resident and a visitor to the city both tested positive for the novel coronavirus that's sickened over 100,000 people worldwide.

A lot is going on. The fallout from the announcement of the NDC’s vice presidential candidate. The Electoral Commission’s insistence on going ahead with its voter registration in spite of the rising infection numbers.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings is chronicling the shocking death of Mr. Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John), the hospitalization of Messrs Mac Manu and Carlos Ahenkorah, among others, as a sharp reminder of the deadly risk the society faces in underestimating the new coronavirus disease.

It was one of those good days. I had closed for the day, and the sun had just begun to set. So I decided in obedience to science… and to my wife, to do some brisk walking in the Ridge area. Just for some droplets of sweat to convince my muscles they were good for something, before I headed on the long drive home. I was now on the homestretch back to the hospital. It had been a pleasant walk so far.

“If you believe you can accomplish everything by “cramming” at the eleventh hour, by all means, don’t lift a finger now. But you may think twice about beginning to build your ark once it has already started raining”

The Western Regional Testing Centre for COVID-19 has run out of reagents and other testing logistics, leaving some 3,743 samples collected for COVID-19 testing unattended to.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed 158 new cases of the Coronavirus disease.

A series of studies of the genomes of thousands of samples of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 show that it is mutating and evolving as it adapts to its human hosts.

Written by Joshua Bamfo - As we all know by now, the world is fighting two evils: 1) combat and contain the spread of Covid-19 to save lives; and 2) implement appropriate economic intervention measures timely to manage the adverse impact of the containment measures on businesses in order to save livelihoods.

From a compulsory lockdown to a self-induced partial lockdown, where schools remain closed and parents are working from home, many have found new ways to keep themselves occupied.

Almost six months into the arrival of COVID-19 in our country, we can probably make some general statements about how the virus has fared in our midst.

As scientists and public health officials around the world scramble to contain the deadly coronavirus outbreak, some researchers are also racing to solve the enduring mystery of where the newly identified virus came from.

Six months after the World Health Organization (WHO) first identified a cluster of atypical pneumonia cases at a hospital in Wuhan, China, the number of people newly infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is rising rapidly.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has identified gaps in Ghana’s preparedness for any suspected or confirmed case of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19.

British foreign minister Dominic Raab is designated to take over leadership of the country if Prime Minister Boris Johnson, currently ill in hospital with persistent symptoms of the coronavirus, is unable to fulfil his role.

The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of COVID-19 cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible, the head of the World Health Organization told sports officials Wednesday as events began in Japan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was moving to update its guidelines on treating people stricken with COVID-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial that showed a cheap, common steroid can help save critically ill patients.

A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

All countries should make containing the outbreak of COVID-19 their top priority, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, pointing to Iran “national action plan” to combat one of the world’s worst outbreaks after a slow start.

Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

People rejoice at the misfortune of others. It is a known fact. There is a German word for this. Schadenfreude. This means “pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune”.

What is generally known about covid-19 is that it kills by attacking our respiratory system and other organs of the body. But what has escaped us is that it can also kill through starvation or the thought of its effects on our businesses.

Written By Patrick Twumasi - Definitely; we're expecting overwhelming number of infected cases to recover fully. Could be over 90% in many countries. In fact many may not need hospitalization at all to recover because the effect in them may be mild like common flu.

Countries around the world on Saturday continued to close borders, impose strict entry and quarantine requirements and restrict large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

The World Health Organization determined Wednesday that the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic and warned that the worst is likely yet to come.

Written By Dr. Nii Moi Thompson - According to the Chinese calendar, 2020 was supposed to be the Year of the Rat.