President Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is hale and hearty, ably in charge of the business of state, while continuing his self-isolation process at the Jubilee House, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said yesterday.
Providing an update at a press briefing, the Minister said the President, who had entered day three of his self-isolation after being exposed to coronavirus, was conducting his duty through telephone calls and other communication channels at the Presidential Villa.
Osafo-Maafo tests positive
Mr Oppong Nkrumah further announced that the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, had tested positive for COVID-19, adding that he was receiving treatment from his home.
“As of today (July 7, 2020), he will commence treatment for COVID-19 from home, and in consonance with the transparency that we are bringing to Ghanaians, he has instructed that we inform the general public accordingly,” he added.
Cases in schools
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has said measures are underway to track suspected cases of COVID-19 in some senior high schools.
These schools include the Wesley Grammar SHS, Mfanstipim School, Prang SHS, Odorgonno SHS, among others.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye, who also took his turn at yesterday’s press conference, said, “Samples [of students in these schools] have been taken because we have suspected cases. We have the Pru West and the Prang Secondary School, where there are cases that we are trying to follow up. In the Central Region, my current evidence is that we have two cases in Mfanstipim, and one in Mankessim.”
The government deployed 200 personnel, including individuals from the Ghana Education (GES) Service and the GHS, to monitor the COVID-19 situation in various senior high schools after six students and a teacher of Accra Girls SHS tested positive for COVID-19.
The GES and GHS in the statement said the personnel have been actively spread out across the country for the task to ensure that the schools do not become hotspots for the spread of the virus.
“A team of 200 personnel, drawn from the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, the Regional and District Directorates of Education are actively spread out all over the country and are monitoring the situation closely.
“Further, all health institutions to which senior high schools have been mapped with health facilities to ensure that any suspected cases are promptly dealt with in accordance with the laid down protocols,” the joint statement noted.
Some parents besieged the premises of Accra Girls SHS on Monday, July 6, 2020, demanding the return of their wards home after the cases were detected.
The students also gathered outside their classrooms, chanting, “We’ll go home.”
Police officers were subsequently deployed to the school to prevent the agitated parents from entering the premises of the school.
Case count
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye further disclosed that Ghana’s COVID-19 case count had risen to 21,968 after 891 new infections were detected in 73 districts in 13 regions.
The figure, he explained, reflects new cases that are from samples taken from June 26 to July 3.He said 17,156 had recovered, with the death count standing at 129. There are 4,683 active cases of which 22 are severe cases, while six of the severe cases are in a critical condition and five on ventilators. For the new cases, 571 were recorded in 24 districts in the Greater Accra Region, 93 cases from 18 districts in the Ashanti Region and 86 from five districts in the Western Region.
