The Ministry of Health has dismissed fears a fever case recorded at the Nyaho Clinic in Accra is the deadly Ebola virus.
In a statement released Saturday, the Ministry said the case is yet to be confirmed by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
The institute is the leading biomedical research facility in Ghana.
‘We expect the general public to remain calm as we wait for the result of blood sample taken for test’, the statement, signed by Tony Goodman, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health said.
The Ministry also said it has put in place precautionary measures at Nyaho Clinic such as providing additional support of Public Health staff from the Ministry, a directive to quarantine the patient and clinical staff and the supply of protective gowns for staff of that hospital, in a bid to contain any spread while Noguchi conducts tests the blood sample.
There were rumours last week that the Nyaho Clinic had recorded the first Ebola Virus infection and that the health personnel who handled the case had also been quarantined..
Tony Goodman was hopeful that a statement from Nuguchi on the results of the blood sample sent there would be ready before close of Monday July 7, 2014.
The World Health Organization (WHO) hosted an emergency meeting in Ghana on Wednesday July 2, 2014 on the deadly Ebola outbreak in the West African sub region.
Health officials from 11 West African countries met in Accra to discuss how to put an end to the crisis.
More than 400 people have died in what has now become the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
Most of the deaths have been in Guinea but there is an increasing number of cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Health ministers from the three affected countries joined officials from neighbouring Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Senegal, as well as Uganda, DRC, Gambia and host Ghana for the meeting.
The countries agreed to commit to better surveillance in order to detect Ebola cases, enhance cross-border collaboration, improve engagement with local communities, and provide closer cooperation with the WHO and its partners.
The health ministers were also recommended setting up a sub-regional control center in Guinea to coordinate technical support.
Key facts
Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.
EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.
Patients require intensive supportive care. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for both humans or animals.
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