The Ghana Medical Association has called on government to restrict social activities such as parties, church services, funerals, clubs and other social gathering in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which is on the rise.
The Association also asked government to regulate the markets and as much as possible restrict them.
According to a statement jointly signed by Frank Ankobea and Justice Yankson, President and General Secretary of the association respectively, the group is taking into the consideration the recent trend of new case of the virus in the country.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is still a major health threat to all persons living in the country. The pandemic has a potential of further weakening our already fragile health systems,” the statement read.
GMA further bemoaned the non-adherence by most Ghanaians to the Covid-19 preventive measures, which has the potential to further escalate the spread of the disease.
Rawlings funeral
The Association again urged government to restrict the number of people attending the state funeral for late President Jerry John Rawlings.
The GMA encouraged people to stay home and rather follow proceedings on television and social media.
With regards to safety, the Association said government should ensure prompt, continuous and adequate distribution of PPEs to all health workers in the various health institutions.
“Suppliers and vendors of the various types of PPEs especially the face mask should not take advantage of the new surge of Covid-19 cases and the increase demand for their products by scaling up prices. This in the long run will not inure to the benefit of the country in our quest to defeat the virus,” the statement added.
The Association entreated Ghanaians to get tested if they have flu like symptoms and as much as possible desist from self-medication.
Covid-19 on the rise
Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has for the third straight update announced that the country has recorded more than 600 new daily infections of the Coronavirus.
The country’s health management body on Friday, January 23, confirmed 635 new cases of infections, barely 24 hours after it had announced 658 new infections across eight regions on Thursday, January 22, 2021.
The confirmation of 679 new infections in GHS’ latest update, therefore, brings the country’s new cases in the last three updates to 1,972. The latest infections, confirmed in eight regions were from tests conducted as at January 20, 2021.
The latest infections also bring the country’s active cases to 3,286, from a previous 2,799.
Unfortunately, six more persons have succumbed to the disease since the last update, raising the death toll also to 367 from a previous 361.
So far, a total of 57,141 patients have clinically recovered from the disease and been discharged.
Seventy-one of the active cases, it said, are in severe conditions, with 36 in critical condition. The active cases, the update said, are being managed in treatment sites, isolation centres across the country, while some were under home management.
Ghana has so far recorded 60,794 cases of the virus since it confirmed its first two cases in March 2020.
Contact tracing
Out of the total confirmed cases, 23,703 were from the general surveillance; 36,033 cases from the enhanced contact tracing, while 1,058 have been recorded from international travellers disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport since it was reopened on September 1, 2020, the update stated.
So far, a total of 735,234 tests have been conducted. Out of this, 229,722 are from routine surveillance, 364,738 from contact tracing, and 140,774 from international travellers arriving through the Kotoka International Airport.
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