Coronavirus: 350 deployed for contact-tracing in Ashanti

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Three hundred and fifty health workers have been deployed by the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate for contact-tracing duties, Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Service, has announced.

He said the team made up of newly trained nurses would visit high risk areas, interact with residents and possibly test those who would be identified as suspects.

Dr. Tinkorang who was briefing the media on the COVID-19 situation in the region, further indicated that 243 health workers had been trained as Rapid Response Teams at the district level by 18 facilitators.

‘Fifteen government hospitals, 33 private facilities including Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) facilities have been trained. We also had support from the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) and the National Ambulance Service”, he told the media

The Regional Director also disclosed that a team from the Ghana Immigration Service was supporting the directorate to screen 50 immigrants who entered the region during the week under review.

Touching on the lockdown of the Greater Kumasi Area, Dr. Tinkorang said it was the way to go in order to effectively contain the spread of the disease, adding that, “the challenge we have is that, usually the disease escalates when there is a lot of movements”.

“That is why we are saying that the best way to prevent the spread of the disease is to make sure that people do not move”, he emphasized.

He, therefore, underlined the need for security personnel manning the borders of the lockdown areas not to allow people to move in and out.

“It is important for the security to have firm control of the borders. Unless you have a very good reason for leaving Kumasi, the principle is that you should stay in Kumasi”, he stated.

He said once the borders were secured and people within the lockdown areas observed the social distance protocols to prevent community spread, it would be contained.

He appealed to the people of Kumasi and its surrounding municipalities to cooperate with health authorities and security agencies during the two-week lockdown to achieve the desired results.

By: GNA