Ghana extends virus lockdown in key regions

Ghana will extend a lockdown on the country's two main regions for one week to help contain the spread of coronavirus, the president said.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said the two-week restriction on movement around the capital Accra and in the Kumasi area would be prolonged from Monday.

"It is important that we stay the course, and bear with the difficulties that come with it," the leader said in a national broadcast late Thursday.

"The final result, hopefully, will be freedom from the virus." Authorities across Africa are weighing whether to extend anti-virus measures that have hit economies and cut off millions from vital sources of income.

Akufo-Addo said the Ghanaian goverment would absorb the whole of the elecricity bills of the poorest citizens and 50 percent for other residents and businesses for three months to ease the pain.

The West African nation of some 30 million has so far registered 378 coronavirus infections, six of them fatal.