A staff of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital has tested positive for Covid-19 after coming into contact with an affected patient.
This was after some 110 persons from the hospital were isolated and tested for the virus after they had come into contact with a female patient.
Director of Mental Health Authority, Dr Akwasi Osei, said after contact tracing and all tests were conducted, only one person was reported to have contracted the virus.
“After contact tracing, we realised that 107 people including doctors, nurses, other patients, and then staff had come into contact with the affected patient. And out of that, only one person tested positive,” he told JoyNews, Monday.
The staff whose identity was not disclosed is among the 110 persons who were isolated and tested following reports of the first case recorded at the centre, two weeks ago.
Dr Akwasi Osei added that the isolated persons included 11 people who shared the same ward with the first confirmed case and after test results were released, all persons tested negative except the nurse.
He, however, disclosed that the hospital is doing its best to prevent more cases as some measures have been put in place to prevent the facility from recording more cases.
“We have the Veronica bucket handwashing facility, sanitizer and the thermometer gun. There is also the ‘no mask no entry’ policy so if you come without a mask you will then have a mask available for you to purchase otherwise you don’t enter.”
He further said that patients have also been educated on the pandemic all as part of measures to curb the spread of the virus at the centre.
“Sometimes people think that if you are a patient at the ward you’ve lost 100 percent of your senses and that is not true. They have a television so they watch news and they know what is going on every day.
“Every morning nurses have good therapy with them where they tell them of what is happening and they educate them on the Covid, the handwashing mechanisms and what they should all do,” he added.