Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, has stressed that Ghana is not undertaking a mass testing exercise for COVID-19, for all persons in the lockdown areas of Greater Accra and Kumasi.
The ongoing exercise in these areas, he said, is not compulsory but targeted at contacts of persons who had tested positive for COVID-19.
The immediate contacts of these persons, as well as other persons who are suspected to have had any close physical encounter with these people.
Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu gave the explanation at the Ministry of Information’s press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, to provide further clarifications on the ongoing testing exercise in Accra, Kumasi and other parts of the country.
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According to him, Ghana does not currently have a policy for mass testing and does not even have the logistical capacity to do so.
He explained that the enhanced testing as indicated by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his national address involves people who fall under the contact tracing bracket.
Travelers who entered Ghana’s jurisdiction at a particular point in time, particularly before the ban on traveling came into force.
He said the contact tracing team has also already began working earnestly to reach contacts of persons currently under mandatory quarantine and isolation in various centres and locations.
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The contact tracing team, he said, have maintained active surveillance in hotspot areas and would go from house to house to have in-depth conversations with households and neighbourhoods to provide and collect information on possible suspected cases.
He appealed to the public to stay calm, remain in their homes and support the authorities with all the necessary information to help people who start experiencing signs and symptoms of the disease to seek immediate healthcare.
The Minister noted that it is only through such cooperation that the country could stop the spread of the virus into the communities and prevent widespread infection and fatalities.
