Tag: coronavirus in Ghana

Eighty fishermen in the Central Region, who returned from their fishing expedition in neighbouring African countries, have been put under mandatory quarantine, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) disclosed on Tuesday.

Dr Akosua Owusu-Sarpong, the Central Regional Director of the GHS, at a meeting organised by the Regional Coordinating Council, said the Service was following up with contact tracing of 550 people to ensure that they did self-isolation or be quarantined.

She explained that under the circumstance, quarantine and isolation were critical in containing the disease and said such measures were to facilitate public health safety.

She said the Region had since received 273 suspected cases out of which 155 had come out negative with only one confirmed case.

She added that a confirmed case, who was diagnosed in Accra but a resident of the Region, was also being managed at a health facility in the Region.

Responding to agitations from community members against using a facility in their area as isolation centres, Dr Owusu-Sarpong explained that any facility used as a quarantine or isolation centre would be secured such that no person put there would be allowed to mingle with community members.

She appealed to all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to engage more with the communities to get them to understand and comply with the protocols for their own safety.

Mr Kwamena Duncan, the Central Regional Minister, bemoaned the situation where the markets and coastal communities in the Region were not observing the social distancing protocol.

He expressed regret about agitations over the decision to use some senior high schools as isolation centres saying every step being taken was in the interest of the larger population.

Source: GNA

The Ghana Energy Awards (GEA) on Tuesday commended government for its intervention in both the electricity and water sectors in the wake of the COVID-19 to ease the hardships on Ghanaians.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his last address to the nation, said government had absorbed full electricity bills for all lifeline consumers and 50 per cent for both residential and commercial consumers for the months of April, May and June.

The Government has also absorbed the water bills for all citizens to facilitate the handwashing with soap and generally lesson the economic hardships on the public for those three months.

This was in a statement signed by Henry Teinor, Event Director of GEA, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

It said the swift steps taken by government to contain the spread of the virus had been applauded by Ghanaians and the international community.

“GEA will like to appeal to energy sector players in the country to join government in the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus and its impact on economic and social life,” it said.

The statement encouraged the stakeholders to support affected communities through preventive interventions and provision of relief items to complement government’s interventions.

It commended various industry players and other private organisations for their donations to the COVID-19 Fund, urging other individuals and corporate groups to emulate this gesture of humanitarianism.

“We commend our frontline workers and those directly involved in the fight against the spread of the disease and urged all stakeholders to keep safe and trust that the nation will emerge out of the pandemic”.

The statement implored on all and sundry to adhere to the precautionary measures by the President and the health authorities to stay safe.

The Ghana Energy Awards aims to recognise the innovation, excellence and efforts of stalwarts within the energy sector.

Source: GNA

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed that seventeen (17) persons have fully recovered from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.

“We have 17 persons who have recorded negatives and are obviously clinically cured,” Dr Patrick Aboagye, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service disclosed at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Delivering an update on COVID-19 at a press briefing on Tuesday, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah further explained that before a person is officially declared to have fully recovered from the virus, the person has to test negative twice.

He also disclosed that there are another sixty-six (66) people have also tested negative but are not included in the full recovery cases because they are yet to conduct a second test on them.

The number of recovery cases will come to 83 after their results prove negative on second testing.

Ghana has recorded 566 confirmed cases of the COVID-19.

Out of the 566 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 292 reportedly is as a result of routine surveillance, 159 from enhanced surveillance activities and 115 from travellers under mandatory quarantine in Accra and Tamale respectively.

“As of 11 April 2020, 23:00 Hrs, a total of 37,954 persons have been tested with 566 being positive for COVID-19. The breakdown of the 566 positive cases are as follows: four (4) have been treated, discharged and tested negative, 552 cases have been categorized as mild disease on treatment, two (2) moderate to severe cases, none currently on ventilators and eight (8) have died,” GHS further indicated.

Source: peacefmonline.com

Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, Director-General of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has debunked claims that the organization has been distributing relief items intended for the homeless and vulnerable in society to New Patriotic Party (NPP) faithfuls.

According to him, President Nana Akufo-Addo has even issued a stern warning to NADMO and the associated entities distributing food and other items not to play party cards with the beneficiaries.

Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ program, Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh noted that the organization has picked up information that some Members of Parliament(MP) have decided to also share food to their constituents and so, some people perhaps are mistaking that kind gesture for what NADMO has been tasked to do.

The NADMO Boss stated categorically that the relief items are delivered to the homeless, disabled and underprivileged population on strict orders by the President and there is no political discrimination at play.

”There’s no party colours in this. Let someone bring out evidence where we have asked (a beneficiary) for a party card. It is untrue. Do the homeless and disabled we supply food to have a party card? There is no truth in this . . . Let’s stop the politicization of this issue. I can state emphatically that per the warning given me which I have also relayed to my Deputies, Regional Directors and constituencies, District Directors is that the work we’re doing is about NADMO. There is no party card involved but I can tell you there is nowhere that we have demanded party card before distributing the food,” he stated.

He also denied reports that NADMO caused the rush for food by some residents at Asokwa in the Ashanti Region and Tema.

He explained that the NADMO is working with the Local Council of Churches, security personnel and other relevant authorities to locate the beneficiaries and distribute the relief items to them, hence no individuals have been asked to queue or crowd for the items.

Listen to him in the video below

Source: peacefmonline.com

The National House of Chiefs has directed all chiefs to suspend traditional festivities in line with directives to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

It has also directed that all rites associated with traditional festivals and traditional religious days as well as special traditional prayers to purify communities, should be restricted to few people, taking into consideration, directives on the social distancing protocols.

The President of the House, Togbe Afede who stated this in a statement issued in Kumasi asked Ghanaians to abide by the preventive measures instituted by Government and Health Experts and also carry out education on the collective efforts in fighting the covid-19 which is the common enemy of this generation.

The statement asked communities rejecting the citing and location of covid-19 isolation centers in their areas to reconsider and remember that all are potential victims of the pandemic.

It also asked those fighting security officers by defying government directives, to stop henceforth and cooperate to avoid the spread of the disease.

Source: gbcghanaonline.com

The Ghana Mission to the United Nations and Consulate-General of Ghana in New York have indicated that “a number of Ghanaians” have passed away from the novel coronavirus in the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The missions, in a statement, did not give the exact number of Ghanaians who have passed away from the virus.

The Consulate is said to be making “every effort to track the welfare of the Ghanaian community” amid the pandemic.

It has also requested information from Ghanaians in the three states who have any information on deceased Ghanaians “to duly notify the Consul-General or the Information Officer of the Ghana Mission.”

The Ghana Permanent Mission and Consulate-General also assured the Ghanaian community that “it remains available to all Ghanaians in need of critical consular assistance.”

There have been at least 195,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in New York State, with more than 104,000 in New York City.

Over 10,000 persons with the disease have died in the state, which is around 34 per cent of confirmed cases in the U.S.

Globally, there have been over 1.6 million cases with almost 100,000 deaths.

The only public update on the status of Ghanaians abroad came in March where the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration announced that three Ghanaian nationals had died in Europe from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Read full statement below:

Source: dailymailgh.com

On Friday, Dr. Mangala Narasimhan received an urgent call. A man in his 40s with Coronavirus was in a dire situation, and her colleague wanted her to come the intensive care unit at Long Island Jewish Hospital to see if he needed to be put on life support.

Before I come over there, Narasimhan told the other doctor, try turning the patient over onto his stomach and see if that helps.

Narasimhan didn’t need to go the ICU. The flip worked.

Doctors are finding that placing the sickest coronavirus patients on their stomachs — called prone positioning – helps increase the amount of oxygen that’s getting to their lungs.

“We’re saving lives with this, one hundred percent,” said Narasimhan, the regional director for critical care at Northwell Health, which owns 23 hospitals in New York. “It’s such a simple thing to do, and we’ve seen remarkable improvement. We can see it for every single patient.”

“Once you see it work, you want to do it more, and you see it work almost immediately,” added Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, director of the medical ICU at Massachusetts General Hospital.

‘We’re opening up parts of the lung’

Patients with coronavirus often die of ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome. The same syndrome also kills patients who have influenza, pneumonia and other diseases.

Seven years ago, French doctors published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that patients with ARDS who were on ventilators had a lower chance of dying if they were placed on their stomachs in the hospital.

Ever since, to varying degrees, doctors in the United States have been placing ventilated ARDS patients on their stomachs.

Now they’ve doubled down on this with coronavirus patients, and it’s paying off. When the patient at Long Island Jewish was placed on his stomach, his oxygen saturation rate, a measure of oxygen in the blood, went from 85% to 98%, a huge jump.

The ventilated patients typically stay on their stomachs for about 16 hours a day, going on their backs for the rest of the time so doctors have better access to their front side and can more easily give them the treatments they need.
Critical care specialists say being on the belly seems help because it allows oxygen to more easily get to the lungs. While on the back, the weight of the body in effect squishes some sections of the lungs.

“By putting them on their stomachs, we’re opening up parts of the lung that weren’t open before,” Hibbert said.

Choosing belly or back
There is a downside to placing ventilated coronavirus patients on their stomachs.

Ventilated patients require more sedation when they’re on their stomachs, which could mean a longer stay in the ICU. At Mass General, about a third of coronavirus patients on ventilators get placed on their stomachs, usually the ones who are sickest and have the most to gain from being in that position.

Some hospitals are also placing coronavirus patients who are not in the intensive care unit on their stomachs.

At Mass General, a “proning team” of nurses visits patients outside the ICU to encourage them to turn onto their stomachs. Since it might be uncomfortable for a non-sedated patient to spend 16 hours on their stomachs, the nurses try to get them to spend at least four hours on the stomachs, split into two sessions.

“Most are willing to give it a try,” Hibbert said. “How long they stay in that position really varies from person to person, whether they’re comfortable falling asleep in that position, or if they get bored and want to turn over to their backs.”

The 2013 French study looked only at patients who were on ventilators, so it’s not entirely clear what effecting the stomach position has for patients who are not as severely ill.

At Rush University Medical Center, they’re studying whether the stomach position is helpful for patients who are not so sick that they need a ventilator to breathe for them, but sick enough that they need supplemental oxygen delivered through a tube in their nose.

In their clinical trial, patients are being randomly assigned to be on their stomachs or backs, according to David Vines, chair of the cardiopulmonary sciences department at Rush.

“We’ll see if proning helps, and if so, how long should they be in the prone position,” Vines said.

Source: cnn.com

Five Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis of the Western Region have donated a number of items valued at GHS40,000 cedis and a physical cash of GHS10,000 cedis making GHS50,000 cedis to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital to curb the spread of deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

The MPs were; Hon. Joe Ghartey, Member of Parliament for Essikadu-Ketan and Minister for Railways, Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Member of Parliament for Takoradi who doubles as the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe, Member of Parliament for Effia and the Deputy Minister for Energy, Hon. Joe Mensah, Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim and Member for Sekondi, Hon. Andrew Agyapa Mercer.

The items donated to the hospital included; 20 Veronica buckets, 100 pieces of PPEs, 100 pieces of disposable aprons, 100 boxes of nose masks, 100 pieces of headnets.

The rest were; 100 boxes of groves, 100 pairs of gumboots, 100 pieces of safety medical goggles, 580 bottles of hand sanitizers and 20 cartons of bottle water.

Making the presentation to the management of the Hospital, the MP for Takoradi Mr. Okyere Darko-Mensah said that the decision to donate to Effia-Nkwanta was to equip the facility to become more resourceful to the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Mr. Darko-Mensah, therefore emphasized that, apart from the donation to the hospital, the individual MPs have made similar donations in their various Constituencies.

In an interview with GhanaWeb’s Western Regional Correspondent, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwesimintim, Mr. Joseph Mensah indicated that they (MPs) earlier decided to donate to the entire Region and later changed that decision to concentrate on Effia-Nkwanta because it was the last stop hospital in the Region where referrals were taken to.

Mr. Joseph Mensah, however, exhorted the public not to downplay the danger COVID-19 poses to our lives but rather adhere to the directives of the President to stay home as well as observing hygiene protocols.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the management and staff of the facility, the Medical Doctor, Dr. Joseph Kojo Tambil thanked them for the kind gesture and pledged to utilize the items to achieve its intended purpose.

Dr. Tambil said a lot of thinking and discussion has gone into the selection of the items, adding that each of the items were very useful to the fight against the killer Coronavirus.

He, therefore, applauded Government for instituting certain measures and incentives to motivate the Health Professionals in the discharge of their duties.

Five Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis of the Western Region have donated a number of items valued at GHS40,000 cedis and a physical cash of GHS10,000 cedis making GHS50,000 cedis to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital to curb the spread of deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

The MPs were; Hon. Joe Ghartey, Member of Parliament for Essikadu-Ketan and Minister for Railways, Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Member of Parliament for Takoradi who doubles as the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe, Member of Parliament for Effia and the Deputy Minister for Energy, Hon. Joe Mensah, Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim and Member for Sekondi, Hon. Andrew Agyapa Mercer.

The items donated to the hospital included; 20 Veronica buckets, 100 pieces of PPEs, 100 pieces of disposable aprons, 100 boxes of nose masks, 100 pieces of headnets.

The rest were; 100 boxes of groves, 100 pairs of gumboots, 100 pieces of safety medical goggles, 580 bottles of hand sanitizers and 20 cartons of bottle water.

Making the presentation to the management of the Hospital, the MP for Takoradi Mr. Okyere Darko-Mensah said that the decision to donate to Effia-Nkwanta was to equip the facility to become more resourceful to the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Mr. Darko-Mensah, therefore emphasized that, apart from the donation to the hospital, the individual MPs have made similar donations in their various Constituencies.

In an interview with GhanaWeb’s Western Regional Correspondent, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwesimintim, Mr. Joseph Mensah indicated that they (MPs) earlier decided to donate to the entire Region and later changed that decision to concentrate on Effia-Nkwanta because it was the last stop hospital in the Region where referrals were taken to.

Mr. Joseph Mensah, however, exhorted the public not to downplay the danger COVID-19 poses to our lives but rather adhere to the directives of the President to stay home as well as observing hygiene protocols.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the management and staff of the facility, the Medical Doctor, Dr. Joseph Kojo Tambil thanked them for the kind gesture and pledged to utilize the items to achieve its intended purpose.

Dr. Tambil said a lot of thinking and discussion has gone into the selection of the items, adding that each of the items were very useful to the fight against the killer Coronavirus.

He, therefore, applauded Government for instituting certain measures and incentives to motivate the Health Professionals in the discharge of their duties.

Source: Daniel Kaku, Contributor

Eighty fishermen in the Central Region have been put under mandatory quarantine on their return from a fishing expedition in neighbouring African countries, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) disclosed on April 14, 2020.

Central Regional Director of the GHS, Dr Akosua Owusu-Sarpong, at a meeting organised by the Regional Coordinating Council, said the Service was following up with contact tracing of 550 people to ensure that they did self-isolation or be quarantined.

She explained that under the circumstance, quarantine and isolation were critical in containing the disease and said such measures were to facilitate public health safety.

Dr Owusu-Sarpong said the Region had since received 273 suspected cases out of which 155 had come out negative with only one confirmed case.

She added that a confirmed case, who was diagnosed in Accra but a resident of the Region, was also being managed at a health facility in the region.

Responding to agitations from community members against using a facility in their area as isolation centres, the GHS Central Regional Director explained that any facility used for such purposes would be secured such that no person put there would be allowed to mingle with community members.

She appealed to all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to engage more with the communities to get them to understand and comply with the protocols for their own safety.

On his part, Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan bemoaned the situation where the markets and coastal communities in the Region were not observing the social distancing protocol.

He expressed regret about agitations over the decision to use some senior high schools as isolation centres saying every step being taken was in the interest of the larger population.

Source: GNA 

A total of 31 Indians are battling Covid-19 in the Eastern Region.

This is according to the Head of Public Affairs of the National Identification Authority (NIA), ACI Francis Palmdeti.

Mr Palmdeti made this known while dismissing media reports that three field staff of NIA had tested positive for coronavirus.

According to him, out of the 32 confirmed cases in the Eastern Region, 31 are Indians working with Afcon group, a construction company working on the Tema-Akosombo-Mpakadan in the region.

The other person, he says, is a Ghanaian farmer in Begoro in the Fanteakwa district who has no relationship with the NIA.

“Any claim contrary to any of the above statement is absolutely false and must be disregarded,” he said.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

The Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations and Consulate-General of Ghana has said it received with deep regret the sad news of the passing of a number of Ghanaians in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mission extended its deepest condolences and sympathy to the families and loved ones of the deceased.

“The Mission further wishes to express solidarity with all affected Ghanaians, especially with the families of the critically ill and joins in praying for their full and speedy recovery.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to all compatriots at this time and we wish to use this opportunity to reiterate our plea for all Ghanaians to strictly observe the guidelines announced by the World Health Organization as well as the City and State Authorities to avoid being infected with the virus.

“The Consulate is making every effort to track the welfare of the Ghanaian community in these difficult times and kindly requests that any Ghanaian living in the tri-state area who has lost a relative or has knowledge of a Ghanaian who has succumbed to the coronavirus disease, to duly notify the Consul-General or the Information Officer of the Ghana Mission. They may be contacted by phone on 929-342-9396 and 202-389-7855, respectively.

“The Ghana Permanent Mission and Consulate-General wishes to assure the Ghanaian community that it remains available to all Ghanaians in need of critical consular assistance. It is our hope and prayer that we will overcome this pandemic and be able to return to normalcy soon. Meanwhile, please stay safe.”

Source: classfmonline.com

The Ghana Mission to the United Nations and Consulate-General of Ghana in New York have indicated that “a number of Ghanaians” have passed away from the novel coronavirus in the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The missions, in a statement, did not give the exact number of Ghanaians who have passed away from the virus.

The Consulate is said to be making “every effort to track the welfare of the Ghanaian community” amid the pandemic.

It has also requested information from Ghanaians in the three states who have any information on deceased Ghanaians “to duly notify the Consul-General or the Information Officer of the Ghana Mission.”

The Ghana Permanent Mission and Consulate-General also assured the Ghanaian community that “it remains available to all Ghanaians in need of critical consular assistance.”

There have been at least 195,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in New York State, with more than 104,000 in New York City.

Over 10,000 persons with the disease have died in the state, which around 34 percent of confirmed cases in the U.S.

Globally, there have been over 1.6 million cases with almost 100,000 deaths.

The only public update on the status of Ghanaians abroad came in March where the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration announced that three Ghanaian nationals had died in Europe from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Find below the full statement from the mission

The Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations and Consulate-General of Ghana has received with deep regret the sad news of the passing of a number of Ghanaians in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and wishes to extend deepest condolences and sympathy to the families and loved ones of our compatriots.

The Mission further wishes to express solidarity with all affected Ghanaians especially with the families of the critically ill and joins in praying for their full and speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers go to all compatriots at this time and we wish to use this opportunity to reiterate our plea for all Ghanaians to strictly observe the guidelines announced by the World Health Organization as well as the City and State Authorities to avoid being infected with the virus.

The Consulate is making every effort to track the welfare of the Ghanaian community in these difficult times and kindly requests that any Ghanaian living in the Tri-State area who has lost a relative or has knowledge of a Ghanaian who has succumbed to the coronavirus disease to duly notify the Consul-General or the Information Officer of the Ghana Mission. They may be contacted by phone on 929-342-9396 and 202-389-7855 respectively.

The Ghana Permanent Mission and Consulate-General wishes to assure the Ghanaian community that it remains available to all Ghanaians in need of critical consular assistance. It is our hope and prayer that we will overcome this pandemic and be able to return to normalcy soon. Meanwhile, please stay safe.

Information Officer
Frederick Ameyaw.

Source: citinewsroom 

In the fight against the novel coronavirus, regular hand washing has been recommended by medical experts as needful and combative. It is for this reason that a woman of God named Prophetess Mercy Coffie has designed a hand washing stand to aid in effective and proper hand washing.

She has noticed that hand washing stand has been ignored by many yet it plays a very significant role in the cleaning of hands. Her passion to solve societal problems and to make life easier for people motivated her to see this through.

The stand was designed to support and keep the hand washing materials in good position for easier washing and cleaning of hands.

The well designed stand has a considerable height to avoid the bending of waist and knees which could be a discomfort to many, especially, the aged, and people with back and waist pains. The stand provides an area for a veronica bucket or gallon, tissue roll, a bowl, liquid soap and a hand sanitizer. She has observed that these materials are mostly placed on tables or, other flat surfaces.

These surfaces can be easily contaminated and could result in cross infection. The stand has been well-fitted against strong winds and prevents the materials from falling to the ground which could have been the case for tables and other weak surfaces. The container for the hand sanitizer was provided to be filled and refilled, and users can easily press the container with the back of the palm to release the liquid. The tissue roll has been placed on a handle and covered, to avoid dust and other unwanted material from contaminating it.

The prophetess is encouraging men and women of God to follow suit in a bid to create employment opportunities for the youth in the country by finding Ghanaian solutions to Ghanaian problems.

She is hopeful, that, the stand would offer the necessary assistance in the fight against the coronavirus through effective hand washing.

She has donated a number of these stands to some institutions and a lot more stands are being donated.

Source: Kafui Nutsu, contributor

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has implored all border residents to comply with directives aimed at combating the Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The Service has, therefore, urged them to cooperate and volunteer information to the GIS about persons who aid and abet illegal entry into the country to enable the Service apprehend such persons and stop the spread of the virus.

A statement signed by Michael Amoako-Atta, Head of Public Affairs of the Ghana Immigration Service said: “the life of every Citizen is important and therefore the GIS will not countenance any attempt by any individual to circumvent the directives or orders issued by the State.”

It further “urged them to place premium on their health and that of the country and recognize themselves as an ally to defeat the deadly Virus and also a key stakeholder in the fight against all forms of irregular migration.”

The GIS assured the public that it will continue to secure the borders against illegal entry as part of national response to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease.

Source: Kasapafmonline.com

Six of the nine novel coronavirus cases recorded in the Volta Region were from foreigners who entered Ghana illegally, a statement from the Ketu South Municipal Assembly has disclosed.

According to the statement, these individuals entered the country two weeks ago.

The Assembly in the statement said, “efforts are being made through the Ministry of National Security for their repatriation to their home country.”

The six were travellers from Nigeria “who had entered Ghana through unapproved routes along the Ghana-Togo border near Aflao,” the Volta Regional Coordinating Council said in the statement.

“They were apprehended and have been under mandatory quarantine for the past fourteen days,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has asked residents not to panic.

“The number of recorded cases should not alarm you but rather give you hope that pragmatic measures put in place to quarantine these individuals have yielded positive results.”

“Those who had contact with them are therefore advised to quickly try to self-isolate while we continue to contact trace to identify all those who might have come into contact with them,” the assembly added.

The three other cases, which are Ghanaian nationals, include a 48-year-old man, a 22-year-old pregnant woman and a 32-year-old man.

The Volta Regional Coordinating Council noted that “All the three cases confirmed in routine surveillance are not known contacts of COVID-19 cases.”

The 48-year-old man returned to Ho from Accra, the pregnant woman returned to Hohoe from Ashaiman and the 32-year-old man travelled to Hohoe from Tema.

Source: rainbowradioonline.com

A total of 37,954 persons have been tested for the coronavirus disease out of which 566 have tested positive.

The breakdown of the 566 positive cases are as follows: four (4) have been treated, discharged and tested negative, 552 cases have been categorised as mild disease on treatment, two (2) moderate to severe cases, none currently on ventilators and eight (8) have died.

Of the 566 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 292 were reported from the routine surveillance, 159 from enhanced surveillance activities and 115 from travellers under mandatory quarantine in both Accra and Tamale.

Regions that have reported cases are Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Eastern, Western, Volta, Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West.

Over the past thirteen (13) days (since the introduction of the enhanced surveillance), a number of measures have been introduced to control and prevent further spread of COVID-19 in Ghana.

Among these include restrictive movement in the hotspots of the outbreak, intensive contact tracing and laboratory testing, social distancing, and intensive public education.

According to the Ghana Health Service, these measures resulted in the sudden increase in case detection, with high number of cases being reported.

Source: rainbowradioonline.com

Fiftyeight staff of the Begoro Government Hospital in the Eastern Region have been quarantined for having contact with a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

Also quarantined are patients who were on admission with the coronavirus patient at the male ward of the hospital.

The affected persons are being quarantined in guesthouses and hotels. Samples of the affected staff and patients have been taken for testing at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

The male ward of the hospital has since been shut down for fumigation.

A source at the hospital told Starr News, a 65-year-old mango seller on April 5, 2020 who tested positive of Covid-19 was first admitted at the male ward of the Begoro Government Hospital. He was thought to be suffering from tuberculosis but on the following day, he developed dyspnea and fever of about 41 degree celsius raising suspicions among management of the facility. His sample was taken to Noguchi and tested positive.

The situation has heightened fear in the community.

The district health directorate and other stakeholders are on grounds trying to contain the spread of the disease however, lack of personal Protective equipment is threatening their effort.

Coronavirus cases in the Eastern Region have increased from 25 cases to 32 in less than 24 hours of the last count.

This makes the region the third-highest with covid-19 cases in the country after Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions which have recorded 452 and 49 cases respectively.

The national tally stands at 566 with 8 deaths.

Source: rainbowradioonline.com

South Africa on Monday repatriated over 60 of its stranded nationals, who want to return home from Accra, which is undergoing a 21-day lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

They were seen off at the Kotoka International Airport by Madam Lulama Xingwana, the South African High Commissioner to Ghana.

Madam Xingwana said their nationals were in Ghana to execute some projects, which had ended, but they were caught up within the lockdown period of Accra; and the South African Government had to negotiate with the Government of Ghana, for them to be repatriated by a special flight back home.

She expressed her gratitude to the Government of Ghana for the support given.

She said upon arrival home, they would be made to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine.

Source: GNA

Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, has called for calm in the Region after it recorded nine cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, April 12.

He said, “Relevant stakeholders” had started contact tracing in affected districts and called for support from all.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Sunday, April 12 reported that the region recorded nine positive cases of the Coronavirus disease, with the total national figure rising to 566.

The Regional Minister in a press release issued Monday dawn said all cases were in quarantine and that six of the cases were travellers who entered Ghana through unapproved routes along the Ghana-Togo Border near Aflao.

He said they were apprehended and had been under mandatory quarantine for the past 14 days with no symptoms yet.

Dr. Letsa said the remaining three cases were picked from routine surveillance and charged people in the Region to observe preventive measures to stop the spread of the disease.

Source: GNA

The Obuasi Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) has launched an operation to enforce the social distancing directives in the Obuasi Central Market.

Obuasi is one of the high risk spots for COVID-19 in Ghana and the Security Committee was working to ensure that all preventive protocols and restrictive measures were strictly observed by the people to prevent further spread of the virus in the municipality.

The Security Committee as part of the operational measures have moved some of the traders from the Central Market to the Kunka Market to create space and enhance spacing at the markets.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Martin Asenso told the Ghana News Agency at Obuasi that, the social distancing protocol was crucial in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

He said it was mandatory for the market women to comply, hence the need to launch the operation to ensure total compliance in all markets in the Municipality to maintain the safety of both the traders and buyers.

Some of the traders who spoke to the GNA asked the Security Committee to find a suitable place for them instead of the Kunka Market since that place could not accommodate all of them.

Source: GNA

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has warned health workers in the Eastern region to desist from talking to the media in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

A statement signed by the Eastern regional directorate of the GHS said: “I write to you in uncertain terms to warn all staff in all seriousness to desist from engaging the media in conversations and discussions on covid-19 other than education”.

It continued that “anyone found to have given information to the media on covid-19 without the express permission of the regional health directorate will have his or herself to blame”.

The directive comes in the wake of calls by various health workers for government to supply them with PPEs.

Some nurses at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital days ago threatened to abandon their posts over lack of PPEs.

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday launched the GH COVID-19 Tracker App to enable individuals to access and provide basic information to contact tracers to facilitate easy tracing, testing and treatment of the respiratory disease.

The Tracker, developed by the Ministries of Communication and Health, would also aid health authorities to identify high-risk communities and prioritise contact tracing and testing to prevent further spread of the virus.

The Vice President, therefore, urged Ghanaians to download the App from: www.ghcovid19.com or use the shortcode *769#, especially those without smartphones.

The Tracker provides advance information on persons infected by the virus through various telephone-related data to link them to the health professionals.

It also provides detailed information about people who have been at the same event, location, country or other defined locations to help health authorities know where they might have exposed others to the virus over time.

The App will be available on App stores later this week.

The launch of the GH COVID-19 Tracker App was streamed live via the Vice President’s Facebook page and telecast on Ghana Television (GTV).

The Vice President said the App would provide periodic lists of telephone numbers of people who had recently been to COVID-19 hit countries to the Ghana Immigration Service officials to determine whether or not they should provide an extra layer of screening.

The information will also be useful for quarantine reliability and to monitor whether or not individuals are required to go into self-quarantine.

“The App is an important step by the government to leapfrog technology in finding solutions to the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking around the world.

” We’re trying to use digitisation to help us in this fight. Many advanced countries like the USA, South Korea and China are using this concept of crowdsourcing from phone data to manage and track persons affected by the virus and offer healthcare, and more importantly, to prevent further spread of the virus,” Dr Bawumia explained.

The Vice President stated that what was significant about Ghana’s approach in combating the respiratory disease was chasing the virus and trying to get ahead of it.

“We’re not waiting for people to report to the hospital before we count them as COVID-19 positive,” he said.

He said if the nation had not taken a proactive step to aggressively test people, “we wouldn’t have recorded 566 cases as of April 11, which would have given us the false impression that we are safe”.

Ghana is ranked among 20 countries in the world for testing and first in Africa in terms of the number of people tested per capita, with 37,954 people having their samples tested so far.

There are 450 contact tracing teams across the country and six testing centres, in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Tamale, Navrongo, and Tamale.

Dr Bawumia made reference to three of the President’s essential pillars for fighting the virus-tracing, testing and treatment- saying, “The use of science and data as crucial weapons to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overemphasized”.

Ghana’ s confirmed total case count now stands at 566, with eight deaths and four fully recovered.

Globally, there are more than 1.7 million infected people, with 107,000 deaths.

Source: GNA

The Coalition of Graduate Unemployed Allied Health Professionals (COAHP), 2017 and 2018, batch have announced the withdrawal of their services to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) contact tracing and testing team.

The coalition in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Vincent Amponsah Gyamfi, said, “effective April 13, all members who volunteered to do contact tracing, sample taking and testing nationwide have Withdrawn their services to the COVID-19 teams.”

According to the statement, the action was influenced by the neglect and unfair treatment meted out to the 2017/2018 batch of Allied Health Professionals by the Ministry of Health.

The statement indicated that this group of Allied Health Professionals have met all the requirements that qualify them to be recruited into the health service.

It said the group have had several engagements with the Ministry of Health, adding that the names of their members were submitted together with those of 2017 diploma nurses to the Ministry of Finance for clearance.

“Follow-ups were done to that effect and the Ministry of Health promised us that, latest by March, our financial clearance will be granted, we thereby could not fathom why only that of the nurses was granted leaving out Allied Health Professionals,” it explained.

The statement also cautioned the public to be wary of persons who will disguise themselves as Allied Health Professionals to do contact tracing, sample taking and testing.

“Contact tracing, sample taking, testing and all public health activities are strictly the work of certified Allied Health Professionals, ” it emphasized.

The group further urged its members to be calm indicating that it was seriously considering their agitation to demonstrate peacefully in accordance with laid down procedures.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com