Covid-19: Ghana’s CJ goes into isolation

ACCRA - Ghana’s Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah has gone into isolation after reports that some judges tested positive for coronavirus.

The chief justice started his 14-days quarantine on Wednesday according to a statement by the judicial secretary.

He will be working from his home in the capital, Accra.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has also been working from home after he went into isolation over the weekend after coming into contact with someone who tested positive.

Local media report that several other judges have gone into isolation. The Supreme Court has suspended all cases it was expected to rule on this week.

Ghana has 21, 968 coronavirus cases including 129 deaths.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday it was setting up an independent panel to review its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the response by governments worldwide.

The announcement follows strong criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which accused the WHO of being “China-centric,” and U.S. formal notification on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the U.N. agency in a year’s time.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have agreed to head the panel, WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“The magnitude of this pandemic, which has touched virtually everyone in the world, clearly deserves a commensurate evaluation, an honest evaluation,” Tedros told a virtual meeting with representatives of WHO’s 194 member-states.

The co-chairs will select the other panel members, he said. The panel will then provide an interim report to an annual meeting of health ministers in November and present a “substantive report” next May.