The United Nations (UN) says it is working through its Team in Ghana and the World Health Organization (WHO) to support Ghana’s preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was contained in a statement signed by Ms Cynthia Prah, the Media Relations Person of the UN Ghana Office, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra.

It comes amid the confirmation of Ghana’s first two cases of the flu-like virus.

The statement said the UN had taken measures to ensure that it could continue its work to support countries towards peace, stability and prosperity for all the people as well as addressing health-related or other types of emergencies.

“Such preparedness plan has also been set for UN team in Ghana, even before the first cases of COVID-19 was confirmed by the Government on 12 March.

“One of the two cases of COVID-19 announced by the Government is a UN staff member who worked in one of the UN buildings up until the morning of 12 March 2020.

“To ensure the safety of all staff in that building and the continuation of our work for sustainable development, the United Nations in Ghana has decided, as a precautionary measure, that staff on those premises should work from home.

It said the measure had been taken temporarily and that decisions were taken in coordination with the national authorities.

“This supports containment of COVID-19 and is in line with United Nations worldwide standard Business Continuity Procedures.

“Other staff working in other UN entities premises continue working in the office normally”, it added.

The UN Chief, António Guterres says, the WHO's characterization of a pandemic “is a call for action –for everyone, everywhere” and the statement said “as we fight the virus, we cannot let fear go viral”.

The world body, it noted was actively addressing the global COVID-19 outbreak on several fronts -from situation reports and technical guidelines, through funding and partnerships, to advise the public.

“We continue working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.

“In this effort, the United Nations in Ghana stands by the Government and people of Ghana, as it has done for the past 62 years.”6