All the countries sharing direct borders with Ghana have reported cases of the deadly and highly contagious coronavirus (Covid-19). The latest is Ivory Coast which today reported that a 45-year old man travelling from Italy-the worst-hit country in Europe, was diagnosed with the disease.
Already, Togo and Burkina Faso have recorded approximately two cases each, as Ghana has been warned to brace for an outbreak.
Some critics think Ghana may have recorded some cases and has suppressed it, but the Ghana Health Services claim all the over 33 cases of suspected Covid-19 symptoms have eventually tested negative after tests in designated testing labs.
The Ivorian health ministry said on Wednesday that that was the country’s first recorded case.
Ivory Coast, Francophone West Africa’s largest economy is the eighth country in sub-Saharan Africa to confirm a covid-19 case, after Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo, South Africa, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
South Africa announced six new cases of the virus on Wednesday, bringing its total to 13, the most in sub-Saharan Africa. North African countries have also recorded nearly 100 cases.
Globally, the danger posed by the human-to-human Covid-19 which has caused the World Health Organisation (WHO) to categorise it as a global pandemic. In less than four-month of the first case announced internationally, almost 120,000 people worldwide and killed 4,000.
China is the hardest hit as it reportedly originated from its research facility in the Wuhan Province in December 2019. So far several countries in Europe, America, Asia, South America and a few incidents in Africa have been recorded.