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Confirmed COVID-19 cases tally up 9,462 …3,547 recoveries, 44 deaths
Ghana’s coronavirus (COVID-19) cases now stands at 9,462, latest updates from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have confirmed.
The cases are up by 294 from its last update of 9,168.
According to the GHS, 90 more people have recovered from the virus increasing the recovery rate to 3,547.
Two more casualties however, have been recorded sending the death toll to 44.
Both deaths which came from the Ashanti Region involved two females aged 62 and 63 respectively with underlying health conditions including asthma, diabetes mellitus and acute cerebrovascular accident.
With active cases now at 5,871, the GHS says three infected persons remain in critical condition and on ventilators with 17 others, in severe condition.
The country continues to record more COVID-19 cases from its enhanced contact tracing as 5,474 of its total case count has come from such exercises.
About 3,838 cases have been recorded from general surveillance and 150 from mandatory quarantine.
Of the new cases, the Ashanti Region leads the chart with 127 cases from 15 districts with the Greater Accra Region following suit with 77 cases from 10 districts.
The Western Region which is Ghana’s latest hotspot for the disease recorded 61 new cases from the Tarkwa Nsuaem District and an oil and gas company based in the region.
The Central Region has 26 new cases with the Eastern, Western North and Bono East regions recording one case each.
Meanwhile, the number of people confirmed to have died of COVID-19 globally has passed 400,000 according to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard.
Data from the website also show that worldwide infections have reached 6,910,014, while the number of people who have recovered stands at 3,094,075.
The US is the worst-hit country by the pandemic with over 1,920,061 confirmed cases and over 109,802 fatalities.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
