The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said government’s decision not to evacuate Ghanaian citizens from Wuhan in China may have been beneficial when compared to countries who carried out evacuations.

The minster argued that, the current absence of coronavirus disease in Ghana, may be linked to the heavily criticized government decision in not evacuating its citizens from the epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan.

He pointed out that,  some countries [in North Africa, Europe and the United States of America (USA)] who evacuated their citizens from the epicentre in Wuhan have all recorded cases of the disease in their respective countries and Ghana was yet to record a case.

The Minority caucus in Parliament mounted pressure on the government to immediately evacuate Ghanaians living in Wuhan as precautionary measures in protecting its ‘stranded’ people. They added that, other countries were evacuating their citizens from Wuhan hence Ghana should follow suit.

The Minority Ranking members on the Health and Foreign Affairs, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for instance, argued that it was unfathomable that President Akufo-Addo remained quiet at the initial stages on the matter and did not heed to distress calls by Ghanaian students in Wuhan.

In response, the acting Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, stressed that, evacuating Ghanaian students in Wuhan was not advisable.

He said stakeholders in Ghana and beyond had described that move as counter-productive and insisted that China even had a better capacity than Ghana in dealing with the disease in terms of prevention, management and treatment.

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Speaking on the issue in an interview with Accra based Citi FM, on Thursday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said that decision not to evacuate may have been beneficial.

Already, all of Ghana’s immediate neighbours, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo, have recorded confirmed cases of infections, and countries like Italy, where there is a large population of Ghanaians, have escalated their response to the outbreak.

As of Wednesday, March 11, 2020, official figures from health authorities indicated that 57 suspected cases of the disease had all tested negative.

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in delivering an address to the nation on Wednesday, 11th March, 2020 disclosed that a $100 million will be set aside to support the country’s preparedness plan towards coronavirus.

As precautionary measure, the president said “I have, as at yesterday, ordered a suspension of all international travels by public officials. Except for critical assignments, which will have to be authorised by the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, all public officials are to remain within the jurisdiction, until further notice. Video conferencing facilities and other technological tools are to be utilised, whenever possible, for international engagements” he added.

Additionally, he revealed that he has instructed further enhancements of the protocols for in-bound traffic from already affected countries, and urged Ghanaians “as much as possible, desist from all foreign travels, except the most critical ones, until there is a grip on the virus.”