10 more SHSs hit by COVID-19 … Ho Mawuli, Bishop Herman, Archbishop Porter Girls among others affected

1. Ten more senior high schools (SHSs), in the country have recorded positive cases of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the number of schools infected with the disease to 14.

The schools include, Mawuli and Mawuko Girls’ SHS in the Ho municipality, the Bishop Herman College in Kpando and Dabala Technical School, all in the Volta Region.

The rest are, Archbishop Porter Girls, Ahantaman Girls, Diabene and Adiembra SHS, all in the Takoradi municipality as well as Nsein SHS in the Nzema East District and the Suhum Senior High Technical School (STHS) in the Western and Eastern Regions, respectively.

In the Volta Region, the Mawuli and Dabala Technical Schools had recorded three cases of the disease each, two cases at the Bishop Herman College, while, a case had been confirmed at Mawuko Girls’ SHS.

Similarly, eight cases had been recorded at Nsein SHS, while one case each has been recorded at Archbishop Porter Girls, Ahantaman Girls, Diabene and Adiembra SHS, all in the Western Region as well as one case in Suhum STHS.

In all 35 students out of the over 300,000 students have contracted the disease, however, they are all said to be doing well.

According to the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa the situation in his region was under control and called for calm among parents, school staff and students.

“Since they have been taken out of their schools, they cannot spread the virus and so there is no cause for panic,” he said.

Dr Letsa, who is a public health expert, further stated that, the cases had all been taken into isolation at the various treatment centres in the region.

He explained that, vigorous contact tracing was ongoing in the schools in respect of the COVID-19 confirmed cases and the necessary steps would be taken to secure the safety of the children.

On her part, the Volta Regional Director of Education, Madam Enyonam Afi Amafuga said despite the cases classes were still in progress in the schools.

“We are gathering data on the situation on the ground from the schools, and what we need is a continuous supply of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) to the schools to ensure that they do not run out at any time,” she said.

Earlier, a Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum during a press briefing in Accra on Tuesday, July 7, confirmed that, six students at the Accra Girls Senior High School had tested positive for the COVID-19.

Dr Adutwum added that, a teacher at the same school together with his wife had also tested positive for the virus.

He again confirmed that two students from Odorgonno SHS also tested positive for the virus while three students at the Konongo Wesley SHS in the Ashanti Region also tested positive for the Coronavirus disease.

Dr Adutwum has clarified that, in the Central Region, the Mfantsiman Girls SHS had recorded two cases of the disease, contrary to the announcement that, the Mfantsipim School had recorded a case of the COVID-19 in the region.

Following confirmed cases of the Coronavirus disease in SHSs in some parts of the country, the government deployed a team of 200 personnel, to monitor and contain the situation.

The team was drawn from the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ghana Health Service (GHS), as well as regional and district directorates of education.

In addition, health institutions were mapped with health facilities to ensure that suspected cases were promptly dealt with in accordance with the laid-down protocols, a joint statement by the GES and GHS noted.