Covid-19: Netherlands Embassy in Ghana closed down indefinitely

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The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana is the latest to announce a temporary closure of its offices in Accra.

Officials said on Saturday, March 14, 2020 that the embassy will remain “closed until further notice”.

It follows a confirmation by the Norwegian Embassy —which shares the same building with the Netherlands Embassy —that one of its staff has tested positive of the deadly Coronavirus.

“Following the confirmation by the Norwegian Embassy that one of its staff has tested positive for Covid-19, and given that Norwegian and Netherlands Embassies share the same building, the Netherlands Embassy in Ghana is closed down until further notice”, the embassy said in a tweet.

On Friday, March 12, the Norwegian Embassy in Ghana closed down indefinitely, after one of its staff tested positive for the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Ghana confirmed two cases of the deadly virus Thursday evening. The persons are said to have travelled from Norway and Turkey and arrived in Ghana within the last week.

One of them is a Ghanaian while the other is a Norwegian, officials said.

The Embassy on its Facebook page wrote: “We can confirm that one of our colleagues has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.”

It added that the person was in quarantine.

It said the Embassy was in close dialogue with the Ghana Health Service and routine contact tracing had commenced.

“All staff are also in quarantine, and we are fully committed to assist with containment. The Embassy is closed to the public until further notice, but staff are operating from home”, the post continued.

Ghana records first Covid-19 cases

On Thursday night, the Ghana Health Service in an emergency press conference announced that a Norwegian diplomat in Ghana and a Ghanaian from Turkey are the carriers of the coronavirus recorded in Ghana.

Sources say the Ghanaian came in from Turkey, having gone there for an assignment with an international agency while the Norwegian, appears to have returned to Ghana after helping organise President Akufo-Addo’s recent visit to the European country.

An amount of $100 million has also been committed to contain the outbreak.

Many public institutions have also initiated steps to prevent the virus from spreading.

Death toll passes 5000

More than 5,000 people have died around the world after testing positive for coronavirus, AFP reports.

Iran announced another 85 deaths today, pushing its total number of fatalities to 514 amid 11,364 confirmed cases.

The real number of cases might be even higher, as questions have been raised about authorities’ transparency.

In Italy, the number of people who had died from the virus reached 1,000 on Thursday with some 15,000 cases confirmed.

China has recorded more than 3,000 deaths and over 80,000 people as testing positive for the virus.

More than 64,000 people in the country have now recovered, according to the latest information recorded by Johns Hopkins University.

By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH