Staff of UN to work remotely to ensure support amid COVID-19 in Ghana

Workers of the United Nations Ghana, through the World Health Organization (WHO) have assured the government of Ghana of their support and preparedness to help address the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

According to the workers, the team would work with the government to strengthen preparedness and response efforts to ensure the situation remain under control.

This was issued in a statement signed by the communication staff, Cynthia Prah, to outline temporarily measures undertaken by the UN management to ensure the safety of staff in the country.

The statement said, due to a staff member suffering from the Coronavirus, management of the UN in Ghana has decided to close down the offices temporarily as employees work from home to ensure their safety.

This is the statement issued by the Communication Department

At the global, regional and country levels, the United Nations is working closely with governments to support preparedness and response to address the global COVID-19 outbreak. The UN team in Ghana, through the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with the government to strengthen preparedness and response efforts.

As many organizations and businesses worldwide, the UN has also taken measures to ensure it can continue its work and to support countries towards peace, stability and prosperity for all the people we serve—and to continue 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. This measure is taken temporarily, and decisions are 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.

As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says, the World Health Organization’s characterization of a pandemic “is a call for action – for everyone, everywhere” adding that as we fight the virus “we cannot let fear go viral.”

The United Nations is actively addressing the global COVID-19 outbreak on several fronts – from situation reports and technical guidelines, through funding and partnerships, to advice for 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 stand by the Government and people of Ghana, as it has done for the past 62 years.