GCB Bank provides GH¢100,000 support for covid-19 fight

Ghana’s largest bank, GCB Bank Ltd, has provided GH¢100,000.00 support to the government of Ghana to help the national fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

The donation was presented through the Ministry of Health at a ceremony on Friday, March 20, 2020.

The Managing Director of GCB Bank, Anselm Ray Sowah, said, “as the only financial institution with offices and branches across all the 16 regions of Ghana with some of our branches and agencies located at the border towns or entry points, we seek to protect our staff, their dependents, our cherished customers and all Ghanaians from diverse background across the nation.”

He added that the gesture also followed the bank’s monitoring of the challenges confronting Ghana in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Bank with Ghanaian heritage, we have been concerned with the confirmed cases in Ghana our motherland, Africa and the world at large.  We are indeed not in normal times, but there is hope,” he said.

Sowah said GCB is obliged to contribute to the campaigns and government’s efforts to control the spread in the country.

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, expressed gratitude, saying, “I am grateful to you MD, the Board, your staff and the Bank for such a gesture of immense support to enable us fight the disease. We will get ourselves into a close relationship, partnership and eventually become friends.”

So, over the next few days and weeks, we are anticipating that we are going to have larger numbers of people who are already having the disease. The only thing that I can say now is the fact that we should all be listening to the guidelines and the advice that is coming from our professionals and those who are flying about bacterial and all our radio and television stations and people who are discussing COVID-19,” he added.

He urged other financial and corporate institutions to emulate the example of GCB Bank by donating to government.

The Minister also urged Ghanaians to use alternate platforms such as G-Money, internet banking and other digital means in performing banking transactions instead of trooping to banking halls.

Cases in Ghana

The novel Coronavirus cases in Ghana have increased to 16 after five more cases were announced on Friday, March 20.

The five new cases are all in the Greater Accra Region, with some of them considered to be community infections and not imported.

The Greater Accra Region has 13 of the confirmed cases in Ghana with the other three being recorded in the Ashanti Region.

The latest novel coronavirus (COVID-19) updates from the Ghana Health Service suggest that cases of community spread may have been detected.

One of the five new cases is a 34-year-old woman who was a “contact of a confirmed case at her place of work,” according to the Ghana Health Service.

Another case involves a 29-year-old woman resident of Accra with no history of travel outside Ghana.

Also, a man, aged 53, who is a resident in Tema, who has no history of travel outside Ghana tested positive for the virus.

How is the virus spread?

The virus is spread mainly between people who are in close contact with one another, i.e within about 6 feet, and via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into one’s lungs.

To prevent the spread, the standard recommendations coming from the World Health Organisation and the Ghana Health Service are regular hand washing, covering one’s mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs and social distancing.

People are also advised to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

 

Source: Citibusiness