The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Oko Boye, has said one hundred and seventy-eight (178) cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the junior and senior high schools, with eight recoveries already recorded just weeks after re-opening.
He said “With over one million students, teachers and non-teachers involved in the reopening of schools, the percentage of infection stands at 0.0178. This is a rate that demands adherence to government protocols and not the closure of schools.”
Some Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the country recorded COVID-19 cases with Ghanaians calling on the government to close down schools.
The cases were confirmed after students at the Accra Girls Senior High School tested positive.
Two other students from Odorgonor SHS equally tested positive for the virus and in the Ashanti Region, three students at the Konongo Wesley SHS had tested positive for the COVID-19.
In the Central Region, the Mfantsipim School recorded two confirmed cases of the COVID-19.
The other 10 schools include Mawuli School, Bishop Herman College in Kpando, Dabala Technical School, and Mawuko Girls SHS in the Volta Region.
The remaining are Archbishop Porter Girls, Ahantaman Girls, Adiembra SHS, and Diebene SHS all in the Takoradi Metropolis.
The rest are Suhum Senior Technical School (STHS) in the Eastern Region and Nsein Senior High School in the Nzema East District.
Nine students of the Mpraeso Senior High School in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region are said to be in isolation over suspected COVID-19 infection.
The Minority in Parliament said the government must consider closing down all reopened schools to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
Reacting to this by the Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Okoe Boye said all the confirmed cases were in good shape with either no symptoms adding that “there is absolutely no reason to close down schools because of recorded COVID-19 cases.”
Presenting a statement on COVID-19 situations in the country, he said “A confirmed case anywhere, including SHSs is a reminder that the virus is around us and hence the need to take the protocols seriously.”
“If positive cases are being recorded at the workplace where parents are, what makes others demand that cases should not be recorded in schools?” he asked.
He added: the “Government does not wish for cases to be recorded in senior high schools but it is the awareness that COVID-19 can be identified anywhere in the country that informed the provision of Veronica buckets, hundreds of thousands of sanitisers and other tools to the schools in preparation for reopening.”
