Ghana is deploying drone technology to aid in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed.

The drones, according to the President, will transport samples from persons suspected to be infected with Coronavirus for onward delivery to the various centres for testing.

Akufo-Addo made this disclosure Sunday night while addressing the nation on measures adopted by the government to contain the virus

“Government has also introduced the use of drones to expedite the transportation of samples to laboratory centres. On Friday 17th April for example, 51 samples were delivered from the Omenako Drone Distribution Centre to Noguchi,” President Akufo-Addo said.

“Furthermore, we are introducing rapid results testing to augment our surveillance and enhanced contact tracing efforts, so that we can quickly isolate and treat confirmed cases,” he added.

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count

The country’s COVID-19 case count currently stands at 1,042 with nine deaths.

According to the President, the continuous increase in the number of cases is due to the enhanced contact tracing which was done during the partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi.

“The overwhelming majority of these contacts have been established in the last three weeks of the partial lockdown in Accra and Kumasi. Out of this number, one thousand and forty-two (1,042) persons, i.e. 1.5%, have been confirmed as positive, with sixty-seven thousand, five hundred and forty-nine (67,549), i.e. 98.5%, testing negative; ninety-nine (99) persons have recovered and have been discharged; and nine hundred and thirty (930) persons, who have been isolated, are responding to treatment either in their homes or in treatment facilities”, the President explained.

“These nine hundred and thirty (930) persons, after their treatment, will soon undergo the mandatory two (2) tests to determine if they have also recovered from the virus or otherwise,” he added.