Kofi Ahovi

Ghana has recorded 567 new COVID-19 cases. This pushes the case count to 39,642. Meanwhile, the active case count has dropped from 3,313 to 3,059 per the latest update. According to the Ghana Health Service, the cases were reported in the lab on August 3, 2020. However, clinical recoveries have also risen to 36,384. Out of this number, eight are in a critical condition, four on ventilators, and 22 in severe condition. A total of 407,588 tests have been conducted in the country since March 2020. Current regional breakdown

The new coronavirus known as SARS 2 or COVID 19 for short is not the only virus in town. Of course, COVID 19 is deadly and as at now, there is no cure or vaccine against it. However, we know that we can slow its spread and ultimately defeat it if we are diligent in following the prescribed protocols such as wearing our face masks, washing our hands with soap under running water regularly, sainting our hands with alcohol-based hand sanitizer, keeping a social distance of at least two metres and staying at home if we have no serious business outside our homes. As we are all painfully aware, as at this writing, the pandemic has attacked more than and 13,119,239 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 573,752 deaths. In Ghana, the figures are 27,667, cases, 23, 249 recoveries and discharges and 148 deaths. But even so, COVID 19 is not the only virus in town. There is an equally deadly disease making the rounds which is fighting against our best efforts against COVID 19. But even so, COVID 1...

Women-led businesses are more vulnerable to closure than those led by men in the era of the novel coronavirus, due to women’s limited access to finance, shifts in consumer behavior, and the increase in women’s household care responsibilities as a result of extended lockdowns. All across the continent, the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking economic havoc and hitting women the hardest, with women-led Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs) at greater risk of closure as they tend to be smaller and on average, operate in lower profit margin, service-based industries. These and other important findings of a new policy brief highlighting policy solutions to support women-led businesses in Africa in a post COVID-19 world, were released during a webinar organized Wednesday 15 July by the African Development Bank’s  Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA)  program, working with  UN Women  and  ImpactHER . “The compilation and analysis of real time data i...

In the wake of job losses triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor –Awuah, says government is taking steps to minimize unemployment by creating some opportunities particularly for the youth. According to him, plans are far advanced to engage the youth in Agric, services and manufacturing sectors. Speaking at an AGI Joint Regional Webinar for six regions on the theme ‘Minimizing the impact of COVID-19 on job losses; building resistance and strategies, the Minister said government is determined to tackle the unemployment situation caused by the pandemic. “The major pre-occupation of the government is to make sure that people who complete school or people that have reached the working age have access to work, and as I said per Ghana’s classification, work take places within the Agric sector, the manufacturing sector and then the services sector. As a responsible government what we do is that we create opportunities within al...

The threat of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact activities around the world. The produce industry is no exception. However, with no tourists arriving and low price of fruits and vegetables in the markets during the partial lockdown, the farmers in Ada in the Greater Accra region and Jomoro in the Western region were in distress.                                     The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic recently came crashing down on Awal Wepia Farms, a 3-5 acre vegetable farm at Jomoro in the Western Region that produces pepper, tomatoes and okro. According to Wepia, access to agro-chemicals for pest control was not possible as most shops were closed or out of stock and were unable to restock due to the partial lockdown in Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi. The closure of the borders further compounded the si...

The Executive Head Corporate and Enterprise Banking at Bank of Africa (BoA), William Boateng, has noted that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is changing the dynamics of banking across the globe. He explained that the pandemic is ushering the banking system into a new era where bank and customers heavily rely on technology to transact business. To this end, he says the Bank of Africa will leverage on available technology and its global presence to meet the demands of customers. Speaking during a business webinar on the theme: ‘Banking in a Covid-19 environment, Dynamics for Corporate, SMEs and Individuals’ organized by the Bank of Africa in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI France Ghana, Boateng said:   Covid-19 is testing trust, and businesses are worried that the banks are not strong” adding that “Banks are now shifting from the usual ways of doing things and we are leveraging on our presence across the globe to be able to support our customers.” ...

Following measures for enhanced contact tracing and testing, Ghana has detected an increased number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. As at 6th April 2020, 23:30 hr, a total of 287 cases of COVID-19 with five (5) deaths have been recorded. The regional distribution of the cases are as follows: Greater Accra Region has most cases (258) followed by the Ashanti Region (18), Northern Region (10), Upper West Region (1), Eastern Region (1) and Upper East Region (1). A total of 172 cases were reported from the routine and enhanced surveillance activities and those from travellers under mandatory quarantine in both Accra and Tamale are 115. The period for mandatory quarantine for travellers who arrived 21-22 March 2020 has ended. In all, a total 1,030 travellers were quarantined during the period. Out of these, 79 (7.7%) were positive during the initial testing whilst 951 were negative. Twenty-six (26) among those that were initially negative were found to have converted to be positive at the...