Coronavirus: Mass voluntary testing for commercial drivers and food vendors in Obuasi

Head of Disease Surveillance of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Franklin Bekoe says the service is working around the clock to roll out a voluntary coronavirus testing scheme for taxi drivers and food vendors in Obuasi.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, Dr. Bekoe stated that an aggressive but voluntary testing is being implemented within Obuasi township, especially among high risk groups such as taxi drivers and food vendors.

“We are going to carry out enhanced contact-tracing in the very high-risk areas. Obuasi has very densely populated areas like Central Market, Anyinam, Asankore, Wawaso among others…We are also going to do mass voluntary testing among certain risk groups including taxi drivers and food vendors. That is a way of trying to address surveillance and contact management in Obuasi,” he said.

He revealed that 72 percent of all cases recorded in the area occurred within four days [April 21 – April 25] with one trader identified to have infected 17 people.

Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe stated among other observations that the fact-finding team found out that compliance to the wearing of face mask in the area is low and there is no COVID-19 treatment facility in the area despite being a very densely populated area.

“Obuasi is one area where population density is high. Although AngloGold Ashanti has a prominent hospital, they did not have a treatment facility. You also see that, you do not see people wearing face masks…They also did not have a holding facility,” he observed.

The Health Ministry has secured a 100-bed facility as an isolation centre to help in case management, he noted.

He further indicated an enhanced contact tracing aimed at bringing the spiralling COVID-19 cases under control.

New updates released by the Ghana Health Service show a surge in Ghana’s coronavirus cases as 183 new persons have tested positive.

This update raises the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 5,918.

Two more persons who tested positive for the virus have also been confirmed dead, raising the death toll to 31.

The number of recoveries, however, as of Tuesday, May 19, 2020, remained unchanged from the previously recorded 1,754.