Coronavirus: Ghana Premier League in limbo as nation confirms first cases

Concerns have increasingly grown about ongoing domestic football competitions after Ghana announced its first cases of Coronavirus on Thursday night.

A day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the health condition a pandemic, followed by a prompt address of the nation by Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo, the West Africans' Ministry of Health announced two cases involving a "foreigner and a Ghanaian" who recently arrived in the country from Norway and Turkey.

The development came just hours after the Ghana Football Association (GFA) issued a statement, saying it is "closely monitoring" events as reports about the spread of the disease and resultant deaths around the world increase.

The FA also maintained all domestic football competitions will continue as scheduled despite the ongoing Coronavirus health scare.

The Ghana Premier League has reached its matchweek 15 stage, with games set to proceed as planned on Saturday and Sunday.

Indeed, there were two league matches on Thursday to conclude matchweek 14's round of games.

The Ghana men's FA Cup as well as the Women's Premier League and Women's FA Cup are also all ongoing.

However, Thursday night's confirmed Coronavirus cases have raised concerns about the safety of team officials, players and fans alike amid reported new cases globally.

The GFA is likely to release another statement following the latest developments.

In the wake of the reported rising spread of disease also known as Covid-19, some nations like Italy, England, France and Spain have temporarily suspended their football leagues.

Others competitions like the Uefa Champions League resorted to playing some matches behind closed doors as a way of preventing crowds which facilitate easy spread of the health condition.

On Friday, Uefa announced "all matches in Uefa's competitions, including the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League, will not take place next week" altogether.

Morocco, Egypt and Algeria are playing national league matches behind closed doors while South Africa has suspended handshakes before games.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, Chelsea and England attacker Callum Hudson-Odoi and Juventus and Italy defender Daniel Rugani are among high-profile football personalities to have so far tested positive for Covid-19.

There have also been concerns about upcoming 2020 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying games later this month as Ghana host Sudan on March 27 and travel for the return fixture three days later.