President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has on Thursday, March 19, 2020 organised a Breakfast Prayer meeting to pray against the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana.
Organised at the Jubilee House in Accra, it was attended by members of the clergy.
The President expressed hope that the country will heal from the deadly disease through prayer.
Addressing the clergy before the start of the prayers, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “These are not ordinary times and at such times in a country whose population is predominantly Christian, we must seek the face of the one true God for healing and restoration".
“So, I’ve called you to this prayer meeting for us to join together and pray to the Almighty God to protect our nation, heal this land and save us from this pandemic. In doing so, we are also putting into practice the hope of the words in the holy scriptures in James 5:14 and 15 and I quote ‘Is anyone among you sing let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil and a prayer offered in faith will raise him up.”
He added that: “I am confident that this morning’s prayer which will be offered in faith will help heal our nation and will help raise Ghana up and I believe profoundly that we the Ghanaian people, with our faith in the Almighty will overcome this challenge. This too will pass.”
Ghana has recorded seven cases of coronavirus.
The government has, therefore, placed a ban on all social gatherings as part of moves to reduce the spread of the virus.
The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019 and recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020.
As of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, more than 219,000 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in over 150 countries and territories, resulting in more than 8,900 deaths and 85,000 recoveries.
Regions affected by major outbreaks include mainland China, Europe, Iran, South Korea and the United States.
On March 13, the WHO announced that Europe had become the new epicentre of the pandemic.
The virus is primarily spread between people in a manner similar to influenza, via respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing.