‘Adhering To Safety Protocols Is Key To Reducing Covid-19 Cases’ – GHS

The Leader of Risk Communication for Covid-19 at Ghana Health Service, (GHS) Dr Da Costa Aboagye has said, adherence to safety protocols in the only bitter pill we all have to take to reduce the increasing cases of Covid-19 infections in Ghana.

Speaking to Afia Pokuaa Vim Lady on UTV on the safety protocols, Dr DaCosta noted that Ghanaians have to take personal responsibility of Covid-19 behaviour change and adherence to the safety protocols to reduce the infection rate in Ghana.

“Covid-19 has no vaccines or medicines. The only prescribed medicines for Covid-19 are adherence to wearing of mask, social distancing, and hygiene protocols,”he said.

To reduce infection and death rates, Ghanaians must fully adhere to the safety protocols. “There is an executive instrument to enforce adherence to the protocols. For example, the wearing of the facemask has been made mandatory as captured under E.I.64 and if Ghanaians comply with the preventive measures case counts should reduce substantially” Dr Da Costa narrated.

When asked to advise the Electoral Commission to stop the registration exercise by host Afua Pokuaa, Dr Da Costa responded that ‘we must learn to live with the Coronavirus under the strict safety guidelines. A national conversation on ‘living with the virus under the safety protocols’ has been initiated with the aim of reducing infection rates and limiting the spread of the infections as we intensify the management of confirmed cases and reduce associated deaths.

These can be achieved when Ghanaians help us by adhering to the preventative measures.

Ghana’s Case Count

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count has risen to 21,968 after 891 new infections detected in 73 districts. Clinical recoveries are up to 17,156 with the death count standing at 129.

The death rate from the virus in Ghana has been noted as 0.58 percent. There are 4,683 active cases of which 22 are severe cases.

Six of the severe cases are in a critical condition and five are on ventilators.

For the bulk of the new cases, 571 were recorded in 24 districts in the Greater Accra Region, 93 cases from 18 districts in the Ashanti Region and 86 from five districts in the Western Region.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said these new cases are from samples dating back “mainly from June 26 to July 3.”

He estimated that Ghana was recording “about 400” new cases a day.

In line with recent trends, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye noted the Western, Greater Accra and the Ashanti regions as the places “with the greatest challenges” so far with respect to the virus.

“These are areas we need to step up our effort to ensure that we follow the protocols,” he added.