ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
This test will also include genomic sequencing for COVID-19; and all passengers who test negative for COVID-19 will be required to adhere continuously to COVID-19 safety protocols, and will receive regular information on COVID-19 within five (5) days of arrival in Ghana.
I want to assure all Ghanaians that the testing regime in place at Kotoka is amongst the strictest in the world, and, as certified by the Food and Drugs Authority, it is capable of detecting this new variant of COVID-19, which is plaguing other nations around the world.
Fellow Ghanaians, in Update No.
20, prior to the Christmas festivities, I made a passionate appeal to you to ensure compliance with the COVID protocols, and reiterated that, amongst others, beaches, pubs, cinemas and nightclubs were to be closed until further notice.
The Taskforce that advises me on COVID measures is constantly reviewing the situation, and will propose to me when it is safe to lift the restriction.
You will recall that, in our quest to help shield you from the effects of the virus, Government took the decision to provide relief to Ghanaians, which included the absorption of electricity and water bills.
This relief package ended in December.
However, with the continuing difficulties occasioned by the pandemic, I want to state that Government intends to continue to support the most vulnerable in our society.
Government will, thus, continue to pay the electricity bills for our nation’s one million active lifeline customers for the next three months, i.e.
January, February and March.
Additionally, all one million, five hundred thousand customers of the Ghana Water Company, whose consumption is not more than five cubic metres a month, will not pay any bills for the next three months, i.e.
for the months of January, February and March.
This relief package will be reviewed at the end of March.
Fellow Ghanaians, it has been over nine (9) months since we all made adjustments to many aspects of our lives and daily routines.
It has not been an easy task, I know.
However, we have done so to protect our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and the lives of our heroic health workers who continue to care for those affected by the virus and the sick in general.
With Ghana set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines withinthe first half of this year, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
But, we are not yet out of the woods.
So, let us all continue down the path of strict adherence to the protocols.
There is nothing beyond us, the Ghanaian people, who were the first in sub-Saharan Africa to gain our freedom from colonial rule.
It has been my responsibility to come to your homes with these updates on twenty-one occasions, and, certainly, it has been an honour and an absolute privilege to have served you as your President these past four years.
I look forward to delivering on the mandate you have entrusted to me and my Government for the next four years, and, together, we shall defeat COVID, and steer this beloved country of ours back onto the path of progress and prosperity.
For the Battle is still the Lords!!
I came into your homes, on 17 th January, to give an account of our COVID-19 situation – a situation which, per available data at the time, was not good.
To this end, I appealed to you, my fellow Ghanaians, to help contain the spread of the virus by respecting the protocols Government had put in place.
The hope was that we would begin to see an improvement in our case count, as a result.
Two weeks on from that address, the situation is even worse.
As of Friday, 29 th January, sixty-four (64) more people have, sadly, died, over the last two weeks, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to four hundred and sixteen (416).
Our hospitalization rates are increasing, with the number of critically and severely ill persons now at one hundred and seventy-two (172).
Our hospitals have become full, and we have had to reactivate our isolation centres.
Our average daily rates of infection now stand at seven hundred (700), compared to two hundred (200) two weeks ago.
The total number of active cases has more than doubled, from a little over one thousand, nine hundred (1,900), two weeks ago, to five thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight (5,358) currently.
22, thirteen (13) out of the sixteen (16) regions had recorded active cases; today, all sixteen (16) regions have active cases.
Indeed, Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti, Eastern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, and Northern Regions are the hardest hit, accounting for ninety-four percent (94%) of the total number of active cases.
In effect, fellow Ghanaians, we have a lot of work to do in coming to grips with the disease.
Given that recent studies show that the UK and other new variants are being transmitted within the population, we should all understand that our current situation could get very dire if efforts are not made, both on the part of Government and by you, the citizenry, to help contain the virus.
The analysis continues to tell us that the spread of the virus mostly occurs in indoor, confined spaces with poor ventilation, where people are talking, singing, or shouting without their masks.
The imposition of restrictions on our daily routines helped in reducing the prevalence of the pandemic in the country, and Government has been left with no option but to re-introduce some of these restrictions in order to help save the situation.
I know these measures, in the recent past, were unpleasant, but, over a period, they resulted in a favourable situation for our country.
We have to return to them.
So, fellow Ghanaians,until further notice, funerals, weddings, concerts, theatrical performances, and parties are banned.
Private burials, with no more than twenty-five (25) people, can take place, with the enforcement of the social distancing, hygiene and mask wearing protocols.
Beaches, night clubs, cinemas, and pubs continue to be shut.
Our borders by land and sea remain closed.
All workplaces, public and private, must employ a shift-system for workers, in addition to the use of virtual platforms for business or work.
Conferences and workshopscan take place with all the appropriate protocols.
However, I encourage the use of virtual platforms for such engagements.
Restaurants should provide take-away services, and should, as much as possible, avoid seated services.
The National Sports Authority and the Ghana Football Association should ensure compliance with the twenty-five percent (25%) capacity rule in our stadia, with spectators respecting the social distancing rule and wearing of masks.
To the revered leaders of our religious organisations, i.e.
our churches and mosques, I entreat you to enforce, to the letter, the protocols relating to attendance, i.e.
the two-hour duration, one-metre social distancing, mask wearing, use of sanitizers, and the presence of veronica buckets, liquid soap, and rolls of tissue paper.
I note that, since the re-opening of our schools, two weeks ago, we have witnessed only few reports of cases amongst students.
I appeal to school authorities and teachers to enforce the guidelines provided by the Ghana Education Service, and I urge the Ghana Health Service to continue their surveillance at the schools, so we can contain any reported cases.
As we step up public education and enforcement of the protocols on public gatherings, let me also state that regulatory agencies will undertake random checks to ensure conformity with these rules, and the security services will be tasked to enforce them.
You do not have to be arrested by the Police before you wear your mask, your workplace should not be closed for non-conformitywith the protocols, if there is no urgent reason for you to be outside, please stay at home.
Each one of us can help to contain the spread if we continue to practice the measures of social distancing, washing our hands with soap under running water, refraining from shaking hands, and, wearing our masks whenever we leave our homes.
These measures must be respected by all.
I urge you, my fellow Ghanaians, to continue to pay attention to your health, improve your fitness levels, and eat our local foods that boost your immunity.
Should you at any point feel unwell, or exhibit the most common symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, dry cough, tiredness, please report to the nearest health facility and get tested.
COVID-19 tests are free for all Ghanaians at public health institutions.
If a Ghanaian citizen returns a positive result, the cost of care at isolation and treatment centres will be borne by Government.
At the 58 th Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, held virtually, it was agreed that the cost of the COVID test for in-bound ECOWAS nationals be pegged at fifty United States dollars ($50) at the Kotoka International Airport.
The cost of the test for non-ECOWAS nationals still remains one hundred and fifty ($150) dollars.
ECOWAS nationals and travelers, who test positive, will bear the cost of the mandatory isolation and treatment.
Ghanaian nationals, however, who test positive, upon their arrival into the country, will have their isolation and treatment costs borne by the State.
21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year.
Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this.
Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people.
Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people.
The earliest vaccine will be in the country by March.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will use its established processes for granting emergency-use-authorization for each vaccine in Ghana.
As President of the Republic, I assure you that only vaccines that have been evaluated and declared as safe-for-use in Ghana will be administered.
Government will continue to monitor our COVID-19 situation, and will remain resolvedin ensuring that we are able to return to normal daily routines.
I remain hopeful that if each one of us embraces fully the safety protocols, and we continue to put our faith in the Almighty, we will emerge strongly from this pandemic.
My faith in God tells me that this too shall pass!
Fellow Ghanaians, Good evening, and thank you for welcoming me into your homes once again.
You are doing so on one of the sacred days of our nation, 28th February, when the 1948 Christiansborg Crossroads shooting occurred 73 years ago, which led to the martyrdom of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe, and Private Odartey Lamptey, martyrdoms that ignited the nationalist movement, and led us to the freedom we enjoy today.
Let us observe a moment’s silence in honour of their memory, and the memory of all the faithful departed patriots who helped create our nation.
May their souls rest in perfect peace.
Fellow Ghanaians, since I last spoke to you, a month ago, a significant development in our fight against Covid-19 has taken place in our country.
In the course of this week, Wednesday, 24 th February, to be precise, we took another concrete step in our quest to rid our nation of Covid-19, with the arrival in the country of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the first consignment of many more to come.
I indicated in Update No.
23 that the earliest vaccine would be in the country by March.
However, by dint of hard work and sheer determination, government was able to secure the first batch of vaccine doses in February, a month ahead of schedule.
JoyNews/AdomNews · Playback: Akufo-Addo addresses nation on Covid-19 fight We are the first country in the world to be recipients of vaccines from the COVAX Facility, and I want to express my appreciation to members of the Covid-19 Taskforce, which I chair, and to officials of the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service for this commendable feat.
The vaccine deployment plan we submitted to WHO, which unlocked this consignment, was well-received.
They have done a yeoman’s job, and our nation is indebted to them.
We are grateful, also, naturally, to the contributors and managers of the COVAX Facility.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of two vaccines that have, so far, been approved and declared as safe-for-use by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
With the process of certification currently ongoing for the other vaccines, the range of vaccines available to us will increase.
This will facilitate our ability to reach our target of vaccinating twenty million Ghanaians by the end of this year.
Through the National Vaccine Deployment Plan, our population has been segmented into four groups, and this will determine which section of the population gets vaccinated at a particular time.
Group 1 is categorised as “persons most at risk and frontline State officials”.
It includes healthcare workers, frontline security personnel, persons with underlying medical conditions, persons 60 years and above, and frontline members of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
Group 2 is made up of other essential service providers and the rest of the security agencies.
It includeswater and electricity supply services, teachers and students, supply and distribution of fuels, farmers and food value chain, telecommunications services, air traffic and civil aviation control services, meteorological services, air transport services, waste management services, media, public and private commercial transport services, the Police Service, Armed Forces, Prisons Service, Immigration Service, National Fire Service, CEPS Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other members of the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature.
Group 3 consists of the rest of the general public, that is all persons over 18 years, except for pregnant women.
The final group, that is Group 4, will include pregnant mothers and persons under the age of 18, and they will be vaccinated when an appropriate vaccine, hopefully, is found, or when enough safety data on the present vaccines are available.
Special arrangements will be made for persons with disabilities who fall within these groups.
So, from Tuesday, March 2, to Monday, March 15, the Ghana Health Service will begin deployment of the 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccines, with persons in Groups 1and 2 being the target of this first vaccination campaign.
It will be conducted in 43 districts, which are the epi-centres of the pandemic in the country.
They are 25 in Greater Accra, 16 in Ashanti, and two in the Central Region.
The Ghana Health Service, as from tomorrow, will give precise details.
Whilst we are, initially, concentrating on the 43 epicentre-districts, preparations are being made for the vaccination of twenty million Ghanaians through the deployment of some 12,471 vaccinators, 37,413 volunteers, and 2,079 supervisors for the entire vaccination campaign.
Fellow Ghanaians, I know there are still some who continue to express doubts about the vaccine, others have expressed reservations about its efficacy, with some taking sides with conspiracy theorists who believe the vaccine has been created to wipe out the African race.
Our domestic regulatory agency, FDA, one of the most reputable in Africa and in the world, has certified the safe use of the vaccine.
It will not do so if it had any reservations about the safety of the vaccine, and I have gone on record as saying that no vaccine will be deployed in the country for use without the express certification of the FDA.
Taking the vaccine will not alter your DNA, it will not embed a tracking device in your body, neither will it cause infertility in women or in men.
As your President, I want to assure you that the vaccine is safe.
That is why tomorrow, on Monday, March 1, ahead of the commencement of the vaccination programme on Tuesday, March 2, my wife the First Lady, the Vice President, his wife the Second Lady, and I will take the vaccine publicly at two health facilities in Accra.
Key public officials such as the Speaker and Members of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, Chairperson and Members of the Council of State, the Chief of Staff and senior officials at the Office of the President, and prominent personalities like some Eminent Clergy, the National Chief Imam, the Asantehene, the Ga Mantse, and some media practitioners will also, on Tuesday, take the jab publicly.
This is being done because the vaccine will help protect us against the impact of Covid-19 on our health.
It is also a major catalyst to restoring livelihoods and the national economy to the robust level it belongs.
I encourage faith-based groups, civil society, media and all Ghanaians to support the public education campaign associated with the exercise.
We need all hands-on deck to make this a success.
Furthermore, I want to reiterate my determination that we should manufacture vaccines here in Ghana.
To this end, a Committee has been established under the Chairmanship of the former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the world-renowned scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, which is formulating a concrete plan of action towards vaccine development and manufacturing.
Fellow Ghanaians, the roll out of the vaccination campaign does not mean we should let our guard down, and discard the safety protocols that have served us well thus far.
We cannot afford to let our guard down.
Let us continue to wash our hands under running water, maintain social distancing, refrain from shaking hands and hugging, and, most importantly,wear our masks.
We must remember that the virus continues to jeopardise our lives and livelihoods.
As of Friday, February 26, 2021, the total number of active cases stood at 5,444; our daily infection rate is 400, and 77,972 recoveries have been recorded.
Since I last spoke, 191 more people have sadly passed away, bringing the number of cumulative deaths to 607, and 24 persons are critically ill.
Out of 69,350 schools in the country, 207 have reported cases of infections.
The number of active cases is now 282.
So, until further notice, all the restrictions as announced in my last addressremain in force, and the Police will continue to ensure compliance by all and sundry.
If all of us stay the course, and adhere strictly to the protocols, we will emerge out of this pandemic even stronger than before.
This is my charge to you this evening, my fellow Ghanaians.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, we dare not give up all the hard work at this point in time.
This too shall pass, because the Battle is still the Lord’s!!
I am embarking on a nine-day official working visit to France, Belgium and South Africa, as part of efforts being made to ensure our nation’s rapid and sustained post-Covid economic recovery, and have pre-recorded this update, prior to leaving the country.
I must, at the outset, express the gratitude of the nation to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, and all Muslims across the country, for adhering to the request to have a subdued Eid ul-Fitr celebration, devoid of large public gatherings.
By and large, it is gratifying to note that many Ghanaians are adhering to the protocols, and it is heartening to see law enforcement agencies acting against persons and institutions flouting the regulations.
Until we vaccinate the requisite numbers of Ghanaians, and achieve herd immunity, which will help return our lives to normalcy, the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012), will remain in force, and the security agencies will not relent in their efforts to enforce it.
We have seen a marked reduction in active cases, i.e., persons who currently have the virus, from five thousand, four hundred and forty-four (5,444) persons as at 26th February, to one thousand, three hundred and fourteen (1,314), as at 11th May.
Our rate of infection has dropped significantly from four hundred (400) a day when I last spoke to you to less than one hundred (100) now, and the number of persons who have recovered from the virus has also increased from seventy-seven thousand, nine hundred and seventy-two (77,972) to ninety-one thousand, one hundred and forty-six (91,146) within the same period.
One hundred and seventy-six (176) more persons, in that time, have also, unfortunately, lost their lives to COVID-19.
Cumulatively, we have conducted one million, one hundred and twenty-one thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight (1,121,168) COVID tests.
Since I announced the arrival of the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility, together with the procurement and receipt of others, we have rolled out two phases of our vaccination plan.
The first phase involved vaccinating a segment of the population in forty-three (43) districts, i.e., health workers, persons with co-morbidities, persons above the age of sixty (60), physically challenged persons, journalists, frontline security personnel, and a cross section of persons in the three arms of government.
The second phase involved vaccinating all other health workers across the country.
Nearly a million people have now received the first dose of the vaccine.
International vaccine politics and the unpredictability of the supply chain, as well as a third wave of infections in some countries in Europe and Asia, have meant that we have not been able to secure as many vaccines and vaccinated as many Ghanaians as we would have wanted at this stage.
In spite of these obstacles, the target is to vaccinate some twenty million Ghanaians, i.e., the entire adult population of Ghana, by the end of the year.
In the past few days, Government has, through COVAX, received an additional three hundred and fifty-thousand (350,000) doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
These will be added to existing stock to provide the second jab for the three hundred and sixty-thousand (360,000) persons, in the forty-three districts in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central Regions, who received their first jabs from 1st to 9th March.
I am happy to announce that, beginning Wednesday, 19th May, to Wednesday, 26th May, the deployment of the second dose of vaccines will take place across the designated vaccination centres in the forty-three (43) districts, approximately twelve (12) weeks after the first jab, as the science prescribes.
More details of the deployment will be communicated by the Ghana Health Service in the coming week.
Efforts are being made to ensure that those who received their first jabs after the 9th of March will, in due course, receive their second.
We are expecting an additional three hundred thousand (300,000) doses of Sputnik V vaccines, which have already been approved by the Food & Drugs Authority, to arrive in the country.
As and when we make further progress in the acquisition of vaccines, the Ministries of Health and Information will make this known to you.
We are making all efforts to achieve our overall vaccination target.
I want to reiterate, as captured in the travel directive jointly issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ghana Health Service, that all non-essential trips to countries with high COVID-19 infection rates should either be cancelled or postponed.
There will be plenty of time, God-willing, for such trips in the future.
We will continue to review our travel restriction measures.
To prevent fake COVID-19 PCR certificates being used to enter our country, Government, through the Ministry of Health, has begun the process of digitising PCR test results to ensure ease of verification.
The technology platform being used at KIA is based on standards set by the Africa Trust Travel and ECOWAS Biomars.
All travellers arriving in Ghana must have test results or certificates bearing the trusted travel or biomars codes to be acceptable at KIA.
We have re-evaluated quality checks on testing at KIA, and we are satisfied with the sensitivity and specificity of the testing regime there.
All arriving passengers who test positive will follow the laid down procedure.
Those who test negative from designated COVID-19 hotspots, and testing negative at KIA, may be subjected to a repeat test on the third day of arrival.
Our fight against the virus, my fellow Ghanaians, is by no means over.