The Head of Public Health and Reference Laboratories, Dr. Gifty Boateng has intimated that, public laboratories will not be able to attend to persons seeking COVID-19 test for free without referrals.
Explaining this in an interview, she posited that, individuals cannot just walk into the various laboratories to get tested unless they present a referral from a health facility.
Her comment comes on the back of some laboratories reporting that, they have received walk-ins without the necessary referrals ever since the government directed all public health testing laboratories not to charge residents in Ghana for COVID-19 testing.
In this regard, Dr. Boateng noted that, individuals who suspect they may have been infected with the coronavirus are supposed to go to the closest clinic and begin processes for their samples to be taken for testing by ensuring the necessary data is put into a system for data gathering.
“We test and give the results to the same system. Results are not given to people who feel like they are sick who walk directly to us. We have had a lot of people walking in directly because they have heard now it is free.
“So, they come directly to us but now, what we do is, we educate them and direct them to the appropriate quarters.”
She averred that, the data collected will eventually be needed for contact tracing processes, should a sample be confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 and as such urged citizens to get referrals to ease the work.
“When you are positive, the lab doesn’t do contact tracing, so we will not be able to follow up and give you the necessary attention without referrals.”
Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service in the Upper West Region, has also disclosed that, eight percent of the confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in the region were found in children.
The Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Damien Punguyure disclosed that, the eight percent of all the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region are children below the age of nine.
The GHS expressed concerns over the incidence of COVID-19 infections among children in the area and in this regard, Dr. Punguyure has called on parents to take extreme interest in the safety of their wards.
“Children are also being identified as contacts. So, when we collected the samples, we tested and some of them came out as positive. But as we speak, no child below 15 years has been admitted because of COVID-19 because they are generally mild and asymptomatic cases.”
According to an update by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) today February 2, 2021, Ghana has recorded 772 new COVID-19 cases increasing the country’s case count to 5,515.
The update also indicated that, eight new COVID-19 deaths have been recorded raising the death toll to 424 from 416.
Ghana since the outbreak of the pandemic has recorded a total of 67,782 infections and 61,843 recoveries. Also, 119 and 41 patients are currently in severe and critical conditions.
