The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has directed that visitors be restricted at the Achimota Senior High School to contain the spread of COVID-19 infection in the School.
Boarders are also not allowed to leave the premises of the School.
Dr Franklin Asiedu- Bekoe, Director of Public Health at the GHS, told the Ghana News Agency in an Interview in Accra on Thursday that day students were allowed to come to school with strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols because they had been tested and their statuses known.
He said as of Wednesday, July 8, a total of 1,118 persons had been tested in the School out of, which 163 had tested positive to the virus, 117 persons recovered and 46 persons active and undergoing treatment.
He said all those who tested positive to the virus were currently in isolation in the School or at an isolation center at the Pantang Hospital.
On July 4, the GHS announced at a media briefing that the Achimota Senior High School had recorded 135 positive cases of COVID-19, with a significant number of them caused by the Delta strain.
The earliest documented COVID-19 case caused by the delta variant (B.1.617.2) was first found in the Indian State of Maharashtra in October 2020 and has since spread widely throughout India and across the world.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General of the GHS said as a measure to avert the further spread of the virus, the GHS had begun education on all COVID-19 infections and preventive protocols at the School.
He said the Service would also review cases daily and discharge eligible students and staff on isolation, based on the GHS discharge policy.
”Together with the Ghana Education Service, there will be enforcement of Infection Prevention and Control protocols on campus as well as strategic testing of all the day students to identify and contain further community spread,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.
The Delta strain was first detected in Ghana in April 2021, among international arrivals at the Kotoka International Airport, and that the strain was detected in the community in July, he said.
He expressed worry over the non-adherence to COVID-19 protocols, saying; “The confirmation of the delta variant in the community can cause an increase in infections.”
Dr Kuma-Aboagye stressed the need to enforce existing protocols on COVID-19 and assured access to vaccines for the general population.
He urged the public to mask up, observe social distancing and wash hands regularly with soap under running water.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled the Delta strain a “variant of concern” (VOC) on May 11.
The variant is now present in about 80 countries, including Ghana, and it is the most transmissible coronavirus strain.
Symptoms of the Delta strain identified so far include headache, sore throat, runny nose and fever.
More “traditional” Covid-19 symptoms such as a cough and loss of smell are said to be much rarer now with younger people experiencing more of a bad cold.
The WHO has warned that the Delta variant was highly contagious and the fastest coronavirus strain that would “pick off” the most vulnerable people in places with low vaccination rates.
GNA