The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says Ghana has no recorded case of the Ebola virus as purported in some media reportage.
Speaking at the Minister’s press briefing organised by the Information Ministry yesterday, the GHS Director-General, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said that the report is a misinterpretation of a simulation exercise carried out by the Service in Tamale.
“We don’t just wait for the thing to happen. It was an exercise being carried out in Tamale, that should there be Ebola outbreak, will the systems and labs be ready? Will all the surveillance people be ready as well? I think that was what someone misconstrued to be a real outbreak,” he said.
“So, its one of the simulation exercises we routinely do for such cases, should it happen in case whether it is Lassa Fever, Yellow fever among other infections. We do periodic simulation to see our preparedness,” he added.
COVID
He said there was increasing number of reported cases of COVID-19 across the country, especially at the workplaces and in schools.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye expressed concern about the rising number of COVID cases in the country, saying, currently, there are 1,448 active cases, with 14 recorded as severe, three as critical cases while four new deaths have been recorded.
He told pressmen that “the average daily cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Greater Accra region has increased from 1.3 in April to13.3 cases in May to 133.1 cases per day in June 2022. 20.8 percent of current cases are in children( 0-15years).”
The GHS Director-General attributed the gradual increase to poor adherence to safety protocols, especially the wearing of masks in indoor spaces, hence the surge in school and workplace outbreaks.
He also mentioned poor booster vaccine uptake as well as the seasonal factors favouring the spread of influenza-like illnesses.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye further disclosed that as of June 17, 2022, a total of 72 suspected cases of Monkeypox had been investigated in the country, adding that among these, 18 percent were found positive.
Vaccination
On vaccines, he disclosed that Ghana had received a total of vaccines 32,836,648 while 25,417,348 had been distributed to the regions.
He gave the assureance that there were no bolltenecks with issues regarding the vaccines.
He, therefore, encouraged the public to get vaccinated and also have their booster shots after every three months.
