Gantz tells Netanyahu this is their moment as they near deal
then maybe burial.”
The broadcaster said private burials in Ghana were rare, and funerals were typically large, heavily symbolic affairs held primarily on weekends. Many involve singing and dancing and can be as expensive as weddings.
It said it was the norm to leave a body for months on end at the morgue while trying to come up with money to hold a big funeral.
DW said that amid the coronavirus pandemic, this attitude was already having serious implications for morgues in big cities such as Accra and Kumasi.
With families reluctant to collect the bodies until physical-distancing
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actual restrictions have eased, the morgues are filling up even faster than usual, with some already at full capacity.
The morgue administrator at Pantang Hospital in Accra told DW that trying to manage the facility at this point was futile.
“Currently (the morgue) is full, and once it is full we cannot take on any more bodies. So we are hoping that when people come to collect the bodies, we will free up some space. Once we stop taking bodies, it also means that we start losing money.”
Those who work in Ghana’s congested morgues are worried they are working in conditions that put them at a higher risk of contracting Covid-19.
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz were nearing a deal yesterday to form a national emergency government to battle the coronavirus crisis and end the country’s unprecedented political deadlock.
Gantz’s 28-day mandate to put together a ruling coalition after last month’s inconclusive election was due to expire at midnight, but President Reuven Rivlin, who is overseeing the coalition talks, extended it for two days.
Rivlin did so, his office said, “on the understanding that they are very close to reaching an agreement”.
The two met overnight in a lastditch effort to settle their differences. Afterwards they issued a joint statement saying they had made “significant progress”. They were set to meet again with their negotiating teams yesterday.
The impasse, after national elections in April and September last year and again last month, raised the prospect of a fourth ballot, complicating any plans for economic recovery once the coronavirus outbreak eases.
Without a deal, it will be up to parliament to pick a candidate who would then have 14 days to form a government. Failure to do so would automatically trigger a snap election.
“Netanyahu, this is our moment of truth. It’s either a national emergency government or, God forbid, a fourth election which would be expensive and, in this crisis period, gratuitous,” Gantz said late on Monday in broadcast remarks.
Gantz said the enormity of the coronavirus emergency had caused him to break a campaign promise not to sit in a government with Netanyahu, who has been indicted on corruption charges.
Netanyahu, who has headed successive caretaker administrations during the political stalemate, denies the charges. In his own televised statement, he imposed a ban on inter-city travel for the final days of the Passover holiday this week to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Restrictions already in place have confined most Israelis to their homes for weeks, forcing many businesses to close and sending unemployment soaring to more than 25%.
Netanyahu said his cabinet could formulate an “exit strategy” as soon as this weekend.