The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says, in the fight against Covid-19, the country stands at 1,261 active cases and 338 reported deaths as of Monday, January 11.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Super Morning Show Monday, Director of Public Health, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, revealed to host Winston Amoah that the country has seen a rise in cases.
This, according to him, is as a result of two underlying happenings; the number of imported cases through the reopening of airports and celebrations during the festive season.
“Quite a number of our cases are imported cases. We opened our airports and the data over the period, in the first month we had 47 cases. Then we recorded 98 cases, moved on to 126 and now we have over 300 cases.
“Before the X-mas, we had a press briefing and encouraged Ghanaians that although X-mas is a time of togetherness, in the era of Covid-19 it needs to be in moderation. So clearly, we are thinking that the celebration was a factor,” he said.
He admitted that, although some cases have been recorded at work places, the data “is not significant” in comparison to the other factors.
The number of tests undertaken each day ranges from 1,200 to 1,800 with about 10 private testing labs being set up, he noted.
He said the country still undergoes contact tracing despite several challenges it presently faces.
“When we expanded our testing capacity, there was a challenge of linkage cases to care systems. There are different objectives for the public and private sector.
“For a private lab, their interest is to get the test done. This one [contact tracing] is seen as an added activity but we are trying to engage other labs that you need to link a confirmed case to a health system,” he said.
Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said the authorities will schedule a meeting during the week with the private labs to resolve all current challenges.
On the other hand, pharmacist and Fellow at Centre for Democratic Development, Kwame Sarpong, said Ghanaians have refused to follow the Covid-19 safety protocols, a reason for the surge in cases recorded.
He added that the liberal testing practice, where Ghanaians have to pay to be tested does not encourage persons who have shown symptoms of the virus to avail themselves due to financial constraint.
Mr Sarpong urged the authorities to present feasible policies that could be implemented in the fight against the pandemic.