Coronavirus recovery rates not an excuse to be reckless – Information Minister

Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, on Sunday urged the public to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 preventive measures despite the high number of recoveries.

“We caution the general public not to use the improving recovery numbers and the declining active case numbers as a reason to be reckless,” he said.

He said if people failed to adhere to the safety protocols, all the successes chalked by the country in halting the spread of COVID-19 would be a wasted effort.

The Information Minister said this at a press briefing on the current state of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

He said government would continue to intensify measures to prevent further spread of the pandemic, such as the supply of personal protection equipment to all places where they are needed, the identification and testing of suspected cases, among others.

Mr. Nkrumah noted that it was unfortunate that the impression was being created by some people that the government was not doing enough in the fight against COVID-19.

He said the government had come up with several initiatives to halt the spread of the virus “from day one” and added, that such interventions had culminated in Ghana’s current improved case count.

Touching on the situation in Senior High Schools, Mr. Nkrumah said surveillance systems were set up in schools to first and foremost identify suspected cases and test them.

The Minister said if these tests turned out positive, all others considered to be at risk of infection would also be tested to ensure there was no spread of infections.

He said there were also specially assigned staff within schools to coordinate with parents on the wellbeing of their wards, to prevent parents and guardians from worrying unnecessarily.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service, said the last few weeks had seen a decline in the number of confirmed covid-19 positive cases.

He said with the Greater Accra Region being a key region driving the epidemic, the declining cases was the result of the effective implementation of policies and strategies initiated by the government.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said fortunately, most people who tested positive for COVID-19 easily recovered, and this greatly complemented arrangements that had been made to take care of patients.

He said this made the interventions on taking care of COVID-19 patients in the country very potent.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye assured the public that majority of students who tested positive for COVID-19 had recovered and added that fortunately, most of those infected were asymptomatic and thus not physically sick or under any form of duress.

He said there was a stable and safe environment within the schools and assured the public, that on Monday, “the students will write their exams in peace.”

Ghana’s COVID-19 count now stands at over 27,000 with over 23,000 recoveries and more than 140 deaths.