Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has disclosed that government will need time in fixing the country as demanded by some movements and groups in the country.
According to him, Ghanaians ought to give the Akufo-Addo’s government sufficient time to implement measures to fix the challenges facing the country. Mr Agyeman-Manu explained that the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the economy of most countries and Ghana is no exception. That notwithstanding, he revealed that government is working tirelessly to revive the economy in a bid to ease the hardship of the citizenry.
Responding to the demands of the #FixTheCountry Movement at a press briefing held today, February 9, 2022, he intimated that the current government has done well in managing the economy through the difficulties posed by Covid-19. Following this, he iterated that government needs time to “fix” the country as being demanded by the Movement.
“We couldn’t get import from China because of lockdowns and factory closures. And even when we were easing to allow people to trade, how to get ships to transport their wares to Ghana became another issue, so freight charges started increasing. And we know that when freight charges go up, there is imported inflation and definitely we will feel something in our country that will accumulate to some little charges. We have stopped evaluating all these [effects] and we have gone ahead to form a #FixTheCountry Movement. Yes, government will fix the country but we need time”.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
COVID-19 cases in the country
Touching on the impact of COVID-19 on Ghanaians, the Health Minister expressed that Ghana’s Covid-19 death toll as of February 5, stood at 1,426. Mr Agyeman Manu noted that although the number of recorded deaths is unfortunate, it pales in comparison to other countries.
“This is not what we wanted, but if you compare to daily loss of lives of 2000s elsewhere, looks like ours has been a success”.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
According to Mr. Agyeman-Manu, testing, tracing, treatment, and vaccination have been carried out successfully leading to effective management of the pandemic.
“World Health Organisation (WHO) assessment last year indicated that the two countries on the globe that got COVID management right were Ghana and South Korea. It is evidenced in a lot of things we are doing”.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
Information from the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) show that more lives are being lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As of 1st and 2nd February, a total of 1,412 and 1,415 deaths had been recorded respectively. Prior to the announcement on Wednesday February 9, 2022, the GHS noted that as of February 3, a total of 1, 419 deaths had been recorded. The data indicates that the number of casualties since February 1, have risen at an increasing rate; from 3, 4 then to 7 deaths. Currently, the GHS has not provided statistics for February 4.
Currently, the country is battling with 527 active cases. Out of the total figure, five are considered severe while two others are said to be in critical conditions. As of February 3, active cases stood at 1,010. The figures show a decline in active cases.
READ ALSO: EduWatch Calls For Closure Of Public Universities
