- What we need to solve the anxiety among parents is to make information available.
- According to the Information Minister, about 3.6 million reusable face masks distributed to schools.
- A quick panic in an attempt to shut down everything is in itself not a solution.
- We need to do a lot of surveillance and gathering of data to know for a fact what we are dealing with.
- Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stated that the double negative testing is no longer a requirement.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Information Minister has iterated government’s resolve to keep parents updated, taking into consideration their rather concerned disposition on the safety and health of their children.
“We realize that it is an anxious moment for most parents. What we need to solve that anxiety is to make more information available and that is why we have asked that on every campus two teachers will be dedicated to engage with parents, so that parents can understand that…don’t be anxious we had a number of suspected cases“.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
“Because of our robust screening system here, we proceeded to test and we found one, that one has been contained. Once we found one, we are going to do a more general mass testing of everybody and once we do that testing and we find out that there are no other cases, we don’t have a problem. If we find any others, we’ll isolate them and treat them,” he said.
On the issue of reported COVID cases in some senior high schools such as Accra Girls High School and most recent one being Archbishop Potter Girls, which has identified and contained a positive case amongst its student body, the Information minister advised proper tracking of such cases.
He said, “what is important is to have a robust mechanism that is able to do the surveillance, find suspected cases, confirm any of them that will be positive and quickly contain it so that the others can go about their normal lives”.
Optimism the government had may be waning as pockets of cases are being recorded in schools since reopening all in a bid to prepare final year students for their examination.
To this, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said, “if you have one out of let’s say a hundred and I’m sure that everybody will agree that the strategy that the public health experts have put in place which is to isolate that one and ensure that person gets support, test the other ninety nine and be sure and not just say everybody should go home, contain and test everybody and be sure”.
“It is in examining what goes on, putting in place systems that allows you to do the surveillance, do the testing and to take decisions based on the testing that will be able to make informed decisions…a quick panic in an attempt to shut down everything is itself not a solution”.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Revised policy on testing
The Ghana Health Service has indicated that embattled former deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah has undertaken a second negative testing, contrary to the stipulated and revised one policy testing.
The Information Minister explained that the Ghana Health Service developed a standard letter template for communicating the two negative tests to persons with assisted travel. The letter is issued out to persons who undergo a double negative test although it has been revised.
“The two negative tests are no longer a requirement… on your own volition you can do your own double negative test and you may not get a statement from the Ghana Health Service unless you request.
“So this in my understanding is a politician who’s had challenges because he had his own issues with it and has subsequently on his own has done his double negative test and seeks to get a document to the effect that he has done so, so that he can go about his normal business and engage with other persons”.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
He also indicated that the Mr. Ahenkorah got the letter from his district health directorate using the same template from the Ghana Health service.
Meanwhile, the information Minister has emphatically stated that about 3.6 million reusable face masks have been distributed to schools.
