Word’s business magnate and computer software inventor Bill Gates has promised to donate GHc 27,602,464 to help fight the spread of coronavirus in Africa.
Gates through his foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said he would remit a total of GHc 55,204,928.60 which would be divided equally between China and Africa.
The GHc 27,602,464 allocated for Africa will be used to create centres for disease control and prevention for screening and crisis preparedness in countries that will be deemed to be at high risk of being infected with the dreaded virus.
“The money will be spent on emergency funds and corresponding technical support to help frontline responders in China and Africa accelerate their efforts to contain the global spread of 2019-nCoV,” the foundation said in a press release.
The first case of coronavirus was reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December 2019 and has since spread across the globe with latest reports indicating at least 14 countries have been affected so far.
At least 82 people have died courtesy of the airborne virus with about 2,800 others reported having fallen sick.
As it currently stands, no African country has confirmed any case of the new coronavirus apart from suspicious cases that have been reported in Ivory Coast and Kenya.
In Ivory Coast, a woman with flu-like symptoms was isolated and put under observation after she arrived from Beijing where she was pursuing her studies.
In Kenya, a male passenger who exhibited coronavirus symptoms after landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was equally isolated at the airport and quarantined at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
The government later confirmed the passenger, who was also a student in China, was in stable conditionand there was nothing to worry about.
The airline has been forced to undertake a raft of safety measures to ensure passengers suspected to have contracted the virus are not allowed onboard.
Health officers based at the airports in Kenya and China have been conducting quarantine screening to all passengers before allowing them to a flight.