Pretoria - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has declared Wednesday a national day of fasting and prayer as the West African country grapples with Covid-19.
This comes after the country recorded 21 cases including one death from the coronavirus disease which is spreading fast after first emerging in China last December, news website GhanaWeb reported.
In an address broadcast on television, Akufo-Addo appealed to Christians and Muslims to pray for God's protection.
"Let us pray to God to protect our nation and save us from this pandemic," GhanaWeb quoted him as saying.
He also urged Ghanaians to comply with measures put in place to stem the spread of the disease and applauded those at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic now affecting more than 292 000 people around the world.
“I applaud the efforts and courage of ... the health workers, immigration officials, customs officials, civil aviation officials, airport staff, port health officials, Police and military personnel and other essential service providers for the yeoman’s work you are doing. Our nation is deeply in your debt,” he said.
Adhering to the measures was the only way Ghana's citizens could be protected, the president added in his address.
Meanwhile, the head of Ogboni worldwide, a fraternal institution indigenous to the Yoruba language-speaking politics of Nigeria, Oba Olakisan Adetoyese, has urged the government to try traditional and spiritual means to combat the pandemic.
Adetoyese warned the government against tackling the disease scientifically, saying it's not an ordinary disease, Nigeria's Daily Post reported.
“The disease is not an ordinary one and it demands spiritual solution to send it packing. Several terrible epidemics in the past had always been tackled through spiritual means even when there was no medical or scientific know-how," Adetoyese was quoted as saying.
“I offered to embark on spiritual activities to curb the disease in the country and I will meet with some selected governors in the South west on ways to avert the spread of the disease."
The Nigerian government confirmed new cases of Covid-19, taking the country’s tally to 30.