Recorded cases of COVID-19 in the Upper East Region has prompted the Upper East Community (UPEC) living in North America to present medical and non-medical consumables to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Region to combat the pandemic.

The items included; 100 packets of examination gloves, 50 packets of respirators, 30 pieces of face shields, one infrared thermometer and 10 gallons of alcohol based hand sanitizers.

Mr Donald Adabere, a former Upper East Regional Minister who presented the items, and delivered a speech on behalf of the UPEC, said the Association was formed in 2012 as “a non-profit, non-political and non-sectarian grouping of people descending from the Upper East Region and resident in North America.”

He said the group saw the need to form a common forum to deliberate on matters of concern to the welfare of members and mobilize resources for charitable work to support the development needs of the Region.

Mr Adabere said the group had membership of 130 people originally from the Sandema, Navrongo, Bolgatanga, Bongo, Tongo, Nangodi, Zebilla, and Bawku areas of the Region.

“The Association is a member of the National Council of Ghanaian Associations in New York and has been the mouthpiece for our people, representing our culture and traditions. With the dawn of UPEC, we are now able to organize befitting ceremonies to bury our dead and celebrate life events affecting our members in our traditional way,” he said.

According to members of the UPEC, the fighting of COVID-19 was not only for government, and therefore “UPEC members decided to contribute their quota to help in the fight. Voluntary contributions from members for COVID-19 project yielded $6,000, all of which were directed towards fighting the virus in the Region.”

Receiving the items for onward delivery to the GHS in the Region, Madam Tangoba Abayage, Upper East Regional Minister thanked them for the support. She said the impact of COVID-19 was hard on economies across the world, and was fast depleting the economies of developing countries like Ghana. The Minister said businesses were not booming as they used to, “The total Ghanaian economy is under serious stray and stress”.

According to a situational report dated May 6, 2020, from the GHS, the Region has recorded 26 COVID-19 cases and two deaths.

The Bolgatanga Municipality is leading with 18 cases, while the other eight cases are distributed among some of the 14 Municipalities and Districts in the region.

Results of 56 samples are still pending.