Members of Parliament in Ghana are to have their temperatures checked to avoid the spread of infections in the chamber.

Referring to the novel coronavirus, Speaker Aaron Oquaye after making an announcement for members to avoid shaking hands and make use of sanitizers placed at vantage points in the House, agreed to a suggestion from Minority Chief Whip Mohamed Mubarak Muntaka, to have the temperatures of visitors to the House checked.

This, Alhaji Muntaka said, could be extended to the legislators before the beginning of sittings each morning, to which the Speaker agreed and directed the Clerk to take urgent action on the suggestion.

“In fact, whilst we’re still in the chamber, relevant officials will act upon it,” the Speaker directed, adding “so Mr Clerk if you will get somebody to make a move and work on it."

As he began the announcement, with “let’s avoid shaking hands, some MPs broke into laughter, which attracted a stern warning from the Speaker, who said,” let’s not laugh in this honourable House, lest our children will think we are talking about something light."

He described the situation as very serious and called on all to go by the advice of the experts to avoid handshakes as the disease is transmitted physical to physical contact.

Speaker Oquaye suggested that perhaps very soon all would have to adopt the Indian way of greeting, with palms closed and a head bow, where everyone sees that act of greeting without any physical contact.

He urged all to be obedient to safety measure recommended internationally. Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses; they consist of a core of genetic material surrounded by an envelope of proteins spikes. This gives it the appearance of a crown.

Crown in Latin is called 'Corona' and that's how these viruses get their name. There are different types of coronaviruses that cause respiratory and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms.

Respiratory symptoms can range from the common cold to pneumonia and in most people, the symptoms tend to be mild.

However, there are some types of coronaviruses that can cause severe disease, these include SARS - Coronavirus, identified in China 2003, and MERS - Coronavirus, that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The 2019 Coronavirus was first identified in China in 2019.