By Benjamin Mensah, GNA
Accra, Feb 14, GNA – The Ghana Health Service
(GHS) has engaged some senior journalists and media persons on the outbreak of
COVID-19, and gave an assurance that there was no need for evacuation of
Ghanaian students in Wuhan.
Referring to the World Health Organisation
(WHO), the GHS said evacuation was not advisable now, but would be considered
when it was necessary.
At a meeting in Accra, to brief the media on
the Service’s preparedness on the disease, Dr Baffour Awuah, the Director
General of the Service gave the assurance that no Ghanaian anywhere, both
within or out of the country had contracted the disease, and adequate measures
were put in place to secure Ghanaian students in Wuhan.
His assurance comes In the face of Mr Samuel
Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament;
and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Ranking Member on Parliament’s Committee on Health,
earlier in the week mounting pressure on the Government, and further giving it
a three-day ultimatum to evacuate Ghanaian students from parts of China
affected by the disease.
The Director General assured Ghanaians that
Government was in constant touch with her Chinese counterpart over the safety
of Ghanaian students in Wuhan, and that adequate protective measures were put
in place for their safety.
He gave further assurance that the students
were found not to be at risk, and to evacuate was not essential.
Also, the decision to evacuate is not that
of the GHS, but a national decision.
Dr Badu Sarkodie, Acting Director of Public
Health, announced that Government had released GHC 2.5 million of the GHC35
million budget to tackle the disease.
However, a significant number has recovered
and gone back home.
He said 2500 people that passed the country
through Kotoka International Airport were screened on arrival for COVID-19, and
all the 15 suspected cases tested at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical
Research proved negative.
Globally, more than 60,300 cases of the
disease were reported, with 1368 deaths.
Dr Sarkodie said the Service would engage
Parliament’s select committee on Health, chiefs and traditional elders, the
religious community as well as other stakeholders on the disease.
He announced that the Service had a put in
place a “robust system” to tackle the disease, with dedicated ambulances to
pick suspected cases.
In Accra, the Ridge Hospital, the Police
Hospital, LEKMA Hospital and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have been designated as
referral health institutions.
Following the first reports of cases of
acute respiratory syndrome in the Chinese Wuhan municipality at the end of
December 2019, Chinese authorities identified a novel coronavirus as the main
causative agent.
The outbreak has rapidly evolved affecting
other parts of China and outside the country.
Cases have now been detected in several
countries in Asia, but also in Australia, Europe and North America. The first
cases in the EU/EEA were confirmed in France.
Further global spread is likely.
On 12 February 2020, the novel coronavirus
was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) while
the disease associated with it is now referred to as COVID-19.
It is a new strain of coronavirus that was
previously not identified in humans.
Outbreaks of novel virus infections among
people are always of public health concern, especially when there’s little knowledge
about the characteristics of the virus, how it spreads between people, its
severity and treatment.
Human-to-human transmission has been
confirmed, but more information is needed to evaluate the full extent of this
mode of transmission.
The source of infection is unknown and could
still be active.
This is an emerging, rapidly evolving
situation with ongoing outbreak investigations and designated for the suspected
cases.
GNA