Ghana is treating its coronavirus cases with hydroxychloroquine, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu has said.

As a result, he said, he has directed the Food and Drugs Authority to allow the importation of active ingredients for the manufacturing of hydroxychloroquine to augment the stock of government.

“Our laws give the health minister the power to ask the FDA to allow the importation and use of drugs that are not on our drug list. So, that order has been made and the FDA has now granted the approval for some pharmaceutical companies to bring in the active ingredients to manufacture the drug to augment what government has,” he told the media at a press briefing in Accra Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s case count for Covid-19 has jumped to 195 as of Wednesday morning.

The cases stood at 161 as of Tuesday night.

Announcing the new cases Tuesday, the health minister said:” nine (9) new cases of COVID-19 have been reported from the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research since the last update on 30th March 2020.

“All nine (9) cases were reported from Accra, three (3) of them travelled to Ghana within the past 14 days from Germany, France and Hungary respectively but for six (6) of them there is no history of travel outside”.

Meanwhile, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) also reported on tests from 77 samples including samples from 41 asymptomatic contacts of a case from Tamale Teaching Hospital and all are NEGATIVE for COVID-19.