Active cases of the Coronavirus disease in Ghana is now 398 as of Friday, October 16, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.

A total of 46,664 persons have also fully recovered from the virus, putting Ghana's recovery rate at 98.5 percent.

Thirteen more deaths have occurred, bringing the total number of deaths, tragically to 310 out of a total number of 510,074 persons tested.

The rate of death, 0.5 percent continues to remain low.

These were some of the highlights of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's national address Sunday night [October 18, 2020] on measures being taken against the spread of the coronavirus disease in Ghana.

The national address by President Akufo-Addo was the 18th since the disease was first recorded in Ghana on March 2020.

"When you take a close look at the measures some other countries are having to take, including imposing night-time curfews and partial lockdowns, declaring state of emergencies, limiting the number of people permitted at public gatherings and mandatorily fining persons for not wearing masks, all in the bid to contain the second wave of the virus, we, in Ghana have been spared all these developments and restrictions. We must thus be doing something right," President Akufo-Addo said.

"In fact, our favourable situation at the moment is thanks to the effectiveness of government policies, the co-operation of you, the Ghanaian people, and, ultimately to the grace of God," he added.

President Akufo-Addo said the science and data indicates that the trajectory of the virus in Ghana mirrors that of an epidemic with reduced disease activity.

"Our daily infection rates are no longer in the hundreds as they were sometime back. Presently they are in the tens, averaging 25 new cases per day, in the course of last week. This is in sharp contrast with what is happening in the countries that are experiencing a second wave of infections, where in some instances new infections and hospitalizations are sadly in the thousands per day."

Inspite of the successes, President Akufo-Addo reiterated that the virus remains something of a mystery, and "we should always rather err on the side of caution and continue to observe the protocols that have brought us to where we are."

Airport reopened

Following the provision of testing facilities, which ensure the speed and accuracy of COVID-19 testing, Kotoka International Airport (KIA) was reopened on September 1, 2020.

Six weeks since the reopening, a total of 30,564 passengers have been tested, from which 92 have tested positive.

President Akufo-Addo said all 92 from the KIA testing are asymptomatic cases, whose status, but for the test, would have not been detected, and would have spread the disease amongst the rest of the population.

"I am aware that some are calling for government to extend the PCR negative test period before boarding the flight from 3 days to at least 5 days. I believe in the context of the second wave of infections that is engulfing so many countries of Europe and America, that we have to insist on the s-day period. It is better to be safe than sorry," President Akufo-Addo said.

He said across Ghana, the government has expanded COVID-19 testing facilities from the initial two to 16, which include those of private sector providers. Additionally some hospitals across the country have been equipped with the capacity to test for COVID-19.