COVID-19: WHO Director-General commends Nana Addo for ‘powerful’ national address

The World Health Organisation’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for his address to the nation announcing a partial lockdown in Accra and Kumasi.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the part of President Akufo-Addo’s speech talking about his government being able to revive the country’s economy and not lives lost to COVID-19 as “a powerful message to the world”.

President Akufo-Addo in his fourth address announcing a partial lockdown to the nation on Friday 27th March said “We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life”.

The WHO Director-General who also described the President as his brother explained that President Nana Akufo-Addo’s “powerful” address will lead towards a “healthier, safer, fairer world.”

“Thank you for sending such a powerful message to the world, my brother
@NAkufoAddo
, President of #Ghana. Together, for a healthier, safer, fairer world! Together against #COVID19!” Dr. Ghebreyesus tweeted.

Other international media personalities such as UK’s Piers Morgan also commended the President for his speech which seemingly went down well with Ghanaians.

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday declared a partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi effective 1 am on Monday, March 30, 2020.

The lockdown which affects Accra, Tema and Kumasi will last for two weeks.

The decision, according to the President is to help curb the spread of COVID-19 which has led to four deaths and infected some 137 people.

President Nana Akufo-Addo made the declaration in a national address delivered on Friday, March 27, 2020.

“Prevailing circumstances mean that stricter measures have to be put in place to contain and halt the spread of the virus within our country, especially in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi, which have been identified by the Ghana Health Service as the ‘hotspots’ of the infections. In doing this, we cannot afford to copy blindly, and do all the things some other well-developed countries are doing. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this pandemic. We have a unique situation in our country, and we must take it into account in dealing with the disease, whilst meeting all the six (6) key WHO guidelines on the most effective ways of combating the pandemic. Even though it may be said that the number of our infections is still, relatively, low, if we act now purposefully, we have a chance of preventing an escalation of our numbers.”

Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews