Gifty Anti shares experience in ‘compulsory quarantine’

As Ghana is making everything possible to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic among its citizens, Gifty Anti, a broadcaster, has opened up on how she is surviving under ‘compulsory quarantine’ following the directive by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The Stand Point Host, who described the situation

Read full articleas “uncomfortable” but very “necessary” explained in a post on her Facebook timeline that when she returned to the country via a British Airways (BA) flight on Sunday with other passengers, “No one. Absolutely no one was allowed to go home or see relatives who had come to meet them".

According to her, the National Security Minister, his deputy, BNI director and other security operatives, as well as the police, military and health professionals were all at the airport to ensure that no one escapes.

She said, immediately they arrived at the airport, they were screened and after they picked their luggage, they waited to be bused to a hotel where they were to be quarantined.

She added, “This morning, I opened my door and the military guy on the floor said, ‘Madam please go back inside’.

"Well, I was just looking!!! So, they leave the food at your door, knock and leave. No human contact. The only human contacts are the fully PPE clothed health officials who come to take our samples for testing. Quite an uncomfortable process, though very necessary.”

She noted “Ghana is taking this seriously and we the citizens must take it seriously too. It’s not fun to be under compulsory quarantine but it is very necessary!!!”

Read Gifty Anti's full post below:



Background

President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ordered the closure of Ghana’s borders from Sunday, March 22, 2020.

This is to help reduce further spread of the Coronavirus infection rate in the country.

“Anybody who comes into the country, before midnight on Sunday, will be mandatorily quarantined and tested for the virus," the president directed.



COVID-19 cases in Ghana

Ghana confirmed three more cases of the global pandemic, coronavirus bringing the total number to 27.

Out of the 27 cases, two people passed making the number of active cases 25.

All the 25 confirmed cases are receiving treatment in isolation.

A statement on the Ghana Health Service website indicated that "As of 23rd March 2020, [14:00 GMT] a total of 521 suspected cases have been tested for COVID-19 by Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR).

"Among the confirmed cases, twenty are of Ghanaian nationality, the majority of whom returned home from affected countries. Seven are of other nationals namely: Norway, Lebanon, China, France, UK."

In respect of contact tracing, a total of 598 contacts have been identified and are being tracked.

One of the contacts developed symptoms and has been confirmed positive.

Nineteen people have completed the 14 days of mandatory follow up.