Coronavirus: Contact tracing begins in Ellembelle after recording positive case

Correspondence from Western Region

The Public Health Emergency Committee of Ellembelle District in the Western Region has commenced contact tracing after the District recorded its first positive case of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

The District recorded its first case of Coronavirus on Monday, May 4, 2020 among other Districts in the region.

So far, Western Region has recorded 21 positive cases of Coronavirus with Sekondi-Takoradi leading with 7 cases.

In an interview with GhanaWeb's Western Regional correspondent, the Ellembelle District Health Director Dr Augustine Amoako disclosed that the Public Health Emergency Committee has started contact tracing to contain the spread of the virus.

He said so far 45 contacts have been traced and their samples have been for testing.

Dr. Amoako emphasized that due to stigmatization, the Western Regional Team of Coronavirus have been cautioned to not disclose the identity of the contacts.

On his part, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area who is also the Chairman of the Public Health Emergency Committee, Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh revealed that the Coronavirus patient did not pick the virus from the District.

He said he (Coronavirus patient) travelled to a certain Region in Ghana and returned with the virus after the Emergency Committee was alerted that the patient had arrived in a particular Community in the District.

He continued that, "When we had the information that he just returned from his journey, we used the protocol to track him and when we got to him at his house we didn't see any signs of Coronavirus but we did not allow him to go free, we appealed to him to observe a 14-day self-quarantine and after the period still we didn't see any symptoms but we were able to take his sample and sent it for test and unfortunately we were informed on Sunday evening that the sample had tested positive. This person returned to Ellembelle District on April 23, 2020. We have therefore put him on quarantine and monitoring him by giving him some treatment".

He stressed that, "Let me put on record that this person didn't attend to any hospital in Ellembelle District, we only picked his sample at his house. I am also appealing to the people calling me to disclose the identity of the person to stop because there's no way I will disclose the identity of the person".

He is, therefore, calling on his people to remain calm and collaborate with the Emergency Committee to embark on the contact tracing exercise to avoid further spread.

He is also urging them to adhere to all the preventive measures outlined by the Ghana Health Service and World Health Organization (WHO) by observing social distancing protocol, wearing of nose masks on time among other measures.

"We are urging our residents to stay safe by staying at home, strictly observing social distancing guidelines and frequently wash their hand under running water with soap for at least 40 seconds, among others preventive measures", he advised.

He promised to continue to educate his residents about the deadly Coronavirus pandemic in the area and also pledged to distribute free nose masks to his residents.

Ghana has so far, recorded 2,719 confirmed cases with 18 deaths and 294 recoveries of Coronavirus pandemic.