Covid-19 will disappear in 3 weeks if protocols are adhered to – Epidemiologist

The Covid-19 will be eradicated from the country within three weeks if the public adheres to the laid down safety procedures, Epidemiologist Dr Emmanuel Kenu has indicated.

Dr Kenu who is also a senior lecturer at the School of Public Health says that if there’s a controlled system where every single person in the country wears a face mask continuously for two to three weeks, health officials can easily manage the situation.

He noted  “what we should be looking at is the other side that how is the general public helping to solve this problem. And I get worried as an epidemiologist that things that can help us prevent it…people are not adhering to it.”

Dr Kenu’s observation comes after the GHS announced new protocols for discouraging Covid-19 cases.

Speaking on the Starr Midday News with Regina Borley Bortey he said “if we all decide that today is day 1, everybody whether young or old, adult or whoever, when you are leaving your house, you put on your face mask, within 14 days anybody who has the virus will manifest, will show clear symptoms.”

He went on “if we continue that for another two weeks, what it means is that those that will fall sick, we will be able to get them and put them in the right places and start managing them. By the time we get to the third week, we can say goodbye to this virus.”

“There are clear principles that are laid down, but believe in me, if one person refuses to do it, this virus will be with us for a long time.”

“And I have said over and over again, in public health intervention, when we fail to implement things comprehensively, competently adhere to the principles, it will punish you in another way.”

He added “and the punishment will be whether people losing their lives or it will have a devastating effect on the entire health system, and it looks as if we are not doing well to prevent that. And this has nothing to do with the health officials, it has everything to do with the general populace.”

Ghana COVID-19 cases

An update from the Ghana Health Service indicates that Ghana’s COVID-19 case count has risen to 12,929 out of a total of 261,319 tests.

This indicates the detection of 339 new cases and brings the positivity rate for the infection in Ghana to 4.95%.

According to the new data shared by the Ghana Health Service, the number of people who have recovered is now 4,468 with the number of deaths remaining 66.

The total number of active cases is 8,395 with 14 people reported to be in severe condition.

“14 cases are classified as severe and four are classified as critical that are on ventilators,” the Director of the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie said.