JUST IN: Volta Region has recorded nineteen (19) positive cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing Exercise

PRESS RELEASE

The Regional Public Health Emergency Management Committee (RPHEMC) met yesterday, Friday, 1^st May, 2020 to review the COVID-19 actual number of positive cases in the Region as at date, following reports received from the Ketu South Municipal Assembly on new positive COVID-19 cases recorded from the area.

1.  In order to allay the fears and anxiety of our people in the Region, the Committee has decided to bring to the public domain the actual number of COVID-19 cases as declared by the Regional Directorate of Health as the lead authentic body responsible for case management in the Region.

2. Therefore, we wish to entreat the Media in the Region to publicize the following certified information for the attention of our citizens and the general public ahead of the national announcement to ensure that no doubts are left in their minds in the midst of all kinds of information being bandied around that may confuse them.

They include:

• The Volta Region has recorded nineteen (19) positive cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing Exercise as at 1^st May, 2020. One (1) additional case has also been recorded from routine surveillance.
• Fifteen (15) of the cases were contacts of the six (6) quarantined travelers in Aflao who were confirmed positive on the 12^th of April, 2020.
• The sixteenth (16^th) contact to test positive is a 71-year-old woman who is closely associated with a case early on confirmed in Ho.
• The remaining three (3) contacts who tested positive are contacts of cases confirmed positive in Hohoe on the 12^th of April, 2020.
• The one (1) additional case detected from routine surveillance is a 45-year-old man who returned to Kpando from Accra on the 20^th of April to seek medical treatment after he started experiencing worsening respiratory symptoms whilst in Accra.
• This brings the total number of confirmed cases detected in the Volta Region to thirty (30) as at 1^st May, 2020.
• All thirty (30) cases are in isolation and are responding appropriately to treatment.
• It is worthy to note that all cases detected were as a result of public health interventions put in place to promptly detect and isolate all cases.
• The Region’s response activities have been significantly enhanced by the certification of the University of Health and Allied Sciences laboratory to test for COVID 19. Further steps have been taken by the Regional Minister in collaboration with other stakeholders to rapidly expand the capacity of the laboratory.
• The Public Health Emergency Management Committee based on technical advice has therefore sanctioned the mass testing of groups with relatively higher risks in order for the Region to get a firmer grasp on the transmission of the virus in emerging hot spots within the Region.

3.  We would like to commend the majority of citizens who have so far complied with all preventive measures despite the unfavorable consequences that come with it in some instances. We would however like to caution those who have failed to implement these preventive measures to do so forthwith as they pose a danger to themselves and the society in general. 

4.  Furthermore, we acknowledge and celebrate the tireless efforts of all workers in the Volta Region on this May Day. As stated by the President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the ingenuity and can-do spirit of the Ghanaian has been revealed by the monumental challenges that we face today. We applaud all frontline workers who have devoted their time to support response activities in the Volta Region. With God firmly on our side, we can confidently say that we shall overcome.

5. Once again, we entreat all citizens to adhere strictly to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) protocols on the COVID-19 pandemic and which His Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated by ensuring that we wash their hands regularly under running water, use alcohol-based hand sanitizers and practice social distancing. 

Stay Home and Stay Safe. 

Thank you.

DR. ARCHIBALD YAO LETSA)

HON. REGIONAL MINISTER/VOLTA

ALL MEDIA HOUSES

Copy to: 

The Regional Information Officer

Information Services Department

Ho.

The Ag. Public Relations Officer

VRCC

Ho.