Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, has intimated that a taskforce has been working to review the COVID-19 guidelines to present an updated one to the public in the coming week.
According to the Public Health Director, the review became necessary as a result of the current infection rate in the country and the calls for a review of the protocols. Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe indicated that before the reviewed guidelines are released, data of the cases will be used, which he posited has been evident in the decline in cases currently. “Now we are even recording less than 20 cases a day. We’ve been here before but we didn’t get this low.”
Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe noted that the “changing factors” in the guidelines hinges on the protection of the citizens from the virus. He stated that other countries have a high number of reasonable people vaccinated and as such gives them leverage to ease restrictions and be sure that, even when there is a slight increase in the cases, people will not be infected or even if they are infected, it will not be severe.
“So, you realize that people are trying to ease their restrictions. We are also considering that but for us as a country, we are pushing to get the vaccination, looking at the way the virus is behaving. You know there are instances that it [the cases] goes so low and then everything changes.”
Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe
Touching on the reopening of the land border, as called for by the Minority in Parliament, the Public Health Director intimated that, for the borders, the focus will be to ensure that the people who are entering are vaccinated and to prevent the entrance of infected persons. Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe revealed that the Health Directorate would have a thorough look at the situation at the border and factor what needs to be changed and what needs to be maintained.
“There is clear evidence that the cases have come down. You see other countries have been moving up and down. If you look at our country Ghana, we do not change our protocols on and off so, we need to be sure that the evidence [case decline] is supported.”
Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe
Review of $150 to be considered in next COVID-19 guidelines
The Minority in Parliament called on government to reconsider the $150 being paid for COVID-19 test at the airport. Responding to the calls by the Minority, Dr. Bekoe indicated that, in the yet-to-be released reviewed guidelines, there will be a clear indication with regards to the payment. According to Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe, the health directorate does not want a situation whereby the fees will be taken off and later brought back as it will create confusion.
“When we had the omicron is when we brought about the three layers of vaccination and process. So, now we’ve realized that we have the COVID-19 test, PCR test, antigen test and so which one do we take off? We know it’s quite expensive but what I am saying is that, you know these interventions have saved the country a lot in terms of the number of cases. We started with just two cases, it moved up and now look at the number of cases.”
Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe
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