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Ghana launches COVID-19 Tracker App

Ghana launches COVID-19 Tracker App

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has launched the Ghana COVID-19 Tracker App to track contacts of persons affected by the virus through various datalinks and connect such people to health professionals. The app would provide information on people who happened to be at the same event, location, country or other defined location and to know where they might have been as a group over time.

It uses telecom data that is shared from a common platform to facilitate contact tracing, quarantine reliability and other means necessary to put an end to the disease.

Launching the App

Launching the app via livestream teleconference, Dr Bawumia said the tracker would also periodically provide a list of telephone numbers to the Ghana Immigration Service of people who had visited certain countries around the world in recent times for possible use in determining who to target for an extra screening. He explained that the tracker was also useful in obtaining reliable information on people in quarantine. “If people who were required to self-quarantine were doing so and information is provided in advance, it would allow the country to respond quickly to treat them, “Dr Bawumia said.

Dr Bawumia indicated that the current spread of the disease required innovative ideas, including the application of technology to deal with it, adding that, if Ghana hoped to flatten the disease curve and stop the spread, then the tracker offered a solution.

He encouraged Ghanaians to download the app and provide the required information so that health officials can provide the needed support

Downloading the App

The Minister of Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful said that the GH COVID-19 Tracker app has been downloaded 16,000 times in less than 24 hours after it was launched on Monday, April 13, 2020. According to her, about 100 reports of Coronavirus-like symptoms have also been made through the app, adding that the reports would be forward to the Ghana Health Service.

Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful noted that the app was Ghana specific and that “We are interested in tracking the virus in our country and so it is specifically designed to be used in Ghana.” People, who are not using smart phones, can dial *769# and follow the necessary instructions to get their symptoms recorded, she said. Ghana currently has 641 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 83 recoveries.

Flouting movement restrictions

In another development, 406 people across the country have been arrested for flouting the government’s movement restrictions directive over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Head of Prosecutions for the Greater Accra Region of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Lydia Donkor, said out of the number, 103 are in custody and that 248 have been granted bail.


She said “people are still having parties, going to the beaches” as well as organizing weddings ceremonies, which are in clear violation of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, which bars such activities.

According to her, the police and allied agencies will deal with all those violating the government’s movement restriction directive. ACP Donkor explained that “If you are arrested, you will be prosecuted after successful investigations”, pointing out that “if you are found guilty, you are likely to pay a fine ranging from GH¢12,000 to GH¢50,000 or term of four up to 10 years or both.”

Source: Ghana Diaspora Recruiter