Minister reopens Afcons after 100% coronavirus recoveries

Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfuor on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 reopened the Camp ‘B’ of construction firm, Afcons Infrastructure Limited at Kpong, after full recovery of all 70 infected workers.

The reopening of the facility followed its closure after a senior staff member of the firm tested positive for COVID-19 on March 31st, 2020, prompting the closure to pave way for tracing, testing and treatment of the confirmed and suspected cases.

Mr. Kwakye Darfuor said the reopening was for the company to formally resume operations of constructing the 97.3 kilometres Single Standard Gauge Railway Line from Tema to Mpakadan.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 in the camp, according to the regional minister would delay the project, scheduled to be completed in August, 2020 by six months as three months of “good weather” had already been lost to the disease as the absence of good weather was likely to affect the pace of the project.

He commended the hard work and cooperation of the entire management and workers of the company which has helped to contain the disease even during its outbreak in the camp and the subsequent 100% recovery rate.

The minister further expressed satisfaction at the management and outcome of the pandemic in the camp.

Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Alberta Britwum Nyarko also applauded the efforts of the Municipal Chief Executive for the Area, Simon Kweku Tetteh, health personnel, assembly man for the area and security personnel in managing the issue resulting in the successes story chalked.

She equally commended the cooperation exhibited by the management and staff of the construction firm since the outbreak but added that surveillance was still ongoing to avert further outbreaks in the camp.

Giving the current situation of the situation in the eastern region, the regional director of health said 95 out of 134 cases recorded so far in the eastern region had recovered with 21 out of the confirmed cases being frontline health workers out of which 7 have fully recovered.

Dr. Alberta Britwum Nyarko however said stakeholders were not resting on their oars due to the recoveries but, rather continue to ensure that there were no new infections in the Afcons camp.

This, she maintained can only be achieved if all and sundry continued to observe the various safety protocols.

The Eastern Regional Director of Health Services condemned acts of stigmatization of COVID-19 patients or suspected infected persons and called on the general public to desist from such practices.

She said Ghanaians should end such discrimination because the infection alone was a traumatic experience, as stigmatizing infected persons would worsen their plight.

On his part, Municipal Chief Executive for Lower Manya Krobo, Simon Kweku Tetteh expressed his profound gratitude to the health personnel for their immense sacrifices in managing the situation in the camp.

He called on workers in the facility to observe all the necessary health and safety protocols to avoid cases of reinfection.

The Assembly Chief expressed his appreciation to the eastern regional minister and the regional and municipal health directorates for supporting the municipality to get rid of the virus.

Present at the ceremony was the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Samuel Nuettey Ayertey, Deputy Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Antobre Boateng, regional and municipal health personnel and management and staff of Afcons.

Deputy General Manager of the company, Mr. Korimilli V.S.N Murthy thanked the Government, the Regional Minister and the Ghana Health Service for their support during the difficult times and assured that the company would work hard to meet some of its loses.