COVID-19: Information minister Oppong Nkrumah hails government's enhanced contact tracing approach

Ghana's Information Minister, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has hailed government’s approach in the fight against Coronavirus, saying the decision to resort to enhanced contact tracing and mandatory quarantine made it possible for the country to track 274 more cases.

According to the member of Parliament, Ghana's count wouldn't have reached the 566 if not for the enhanced contact tracing that was embarked upon last week.

“It is interesting to note that if we hadn’t as a country stepped up our approach to be ahead and go after the virus we would be reporting only 292 cases by now,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah tweeted on Monday morning.

“The mix of measures to aggressively go in search of it while limiting importation is the reason for which we have found 274 more cases.” he added.

On March 21, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his televised address on the country’s preparedness to fight the pandemic announced that government will effectively begin a mandatory quarantine of all travellers arriving in the country regardless of nationality.

He also said all borders – by land, sea and air – will be closed to human traffic as part of the measures.

Few days afterwards, the president addressing some members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at the Jubilee House said he felt vindicated by the decision to mandatorily quarantine travelers because an overwhelming number of coronavirus cases Ghana had recorded are imported.

“An extreme number, have been found to carry the virus. So, focusing on the importation of the virus and infection have proof to be absolutely spot on… We are now seeing the benefits of these measures,” he noted.