A Junior High School in the Oti Region has recorded a case of the COVID-19.
This was made known by the Director of Public Health for the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie, at a press conference put together by the Ministry of Information on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
He, however decided not to make public the identity of the school in question. He also did not give details on when the case was detected or what is being done to contain the virus at the said school.
“The only reported JHS with a case is in the Oti Region. Just one. I think they [Junior High Schools] are probably adhering to the protocols more than the others.”
The Director of Public Health made the announcement while giving an update on the COVID-19 situation in schools in the country as well as concerns for the closure of educational institutions.
He reiterated in a less overt manner government’s insistence on keeping the schools opened.
“The tertiary schools opened on the 15th of June and again we haven’t had many events within the tertiary and then the SHS on the 22nd and the JHS 29th June. So, based on the time, if you look at the period, 29th to now, is more than two weeks and if we are going by the incubation period, should the JHS be confined, then it will be amongst the safest place for us as a country.
“The Senior High Schools we have the data here despite the number of cases, a few of them in sporadic quantities that have been reported. The rate within the SHS is much lower than the total population in the country. The least was the Junior High Schools.”
COVID-19 continues to spread in educational institutions in the country.
On Monday, July 13, 2020, the Ghana health service disclosed in a statement that, 55 students and staff at the Accra Girls’ Senior High School had tested positive for COVID-19. This was after the service started a testing for the virus in the school.
In furtherance, the statement pointed out that all the infected persons have been sent to treatment centres.
Read Also, Accra Girls’ SHS: 55 students, staff test positive for COVID-19 after testing exercise
Also, some five Senior High Schools in the Western Region have recorded COVID-19 cases.
This announcement was made by the Western Regional Director of Health, Dr. Jacob Mahama.
On her part, the Public Relations Officer of the Western Regional Education Service, Kate Biney, in an interview said,
“I know that Ahantaman Girls has recorded a suspected case and Archbishop Porter Girls also has one suspected case. For Nsei, Diabene, and Adiembra, I will have to check.”
More details about the infections in the Western Region here.
The number of infections continue to rise by the day. Today, July 14, 2020 the GHS announced that there have been an increase in the number of cases by 264, which pushes total cases to 25,252.
Regardless of these new infections the number of deaths is still at 139. The number of people who have recovered are now 21,391. This reduces the number of active cases from a little over 4,000 to 3,716.
From the data of the Ghana Health Service, the Greater Accra Region recorded the most number of new cases, even though the new cases were confirmed in 26 districts in six regions.
The regions leading the country’s case count are;
Greater Accra – 13,869
Ashanti Region – 5,277
Western Region – 2,189
Central Region – 1,110
Coastal and middle belt areas are major hotspots of COVID-19 in the country, according to Dr. Badu Sarkodie.
