The Executive Committee of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) CRIB PROJECT, has identified the failure of people in the Kpando Municipality to adhere to Covid-19 protocols as the cause of the increase in positive cases in the Municipality.

The Committee in a report also revealed that aside from some health facilities and a few offices where mask wearing was mandatory, people were not wearing face masks anymore in Kpando.

Dr. Eric Gyamfi, a Public Health Physician Specialist on behalf of the Committee noted that, "we continue to attend funerals, churches, mosques and visit the markets, lorry stations without our face mask. The result is the rising numbers that we are seeing."

He said the Kpando Municipality had tested 1,465 suspected cases and contacts traced from January to July 2021.

"Out of this number, 217 were positive and three of them died."

Dr Gyamfi said the Ghana Health Service had identified the Volta Region as one of the new hotspots with the Ho and Kpando Municipalities being the highest reporting in the Region.

"Additionally, information from the various treatment centres in the Region indicate that most of them are running at full capacity, an indication that there are many who are severely or critically ill."

He said social distancing measures and other measures to prevent people from crowding were no longer enforced, adding that, there were currently no restrictions on funerals, conferences and other activities that bring people together in the Municipality.

Dr Gyamfi said there was no compliance with self-isolation (home management) protocols for persons with asymptomatic or mild COVID 19 who do not require admission.

He said due to the limited space in the treatment centres, home management had become an important part of the response to COVID 19.

"However, the Committee has observed that people with asymptomatic or mild COVID 19 often fail to follow the protocols requiring them to self-isolate at home for 14 days.

"They attend various public events when they should be in isolation and inadvertently spread the virus."

He said the Committee recommended that Public Health Emergency Management Committee meetings resumed with immediate effect, so that appropriate measures could be put in place to ensure that the precautionary measures were enforced.

Dr Gyamfi said all persons who tested positive for COVID-19 and were asymptomatic or mildly ill and had been asked by their health providers to self-isolate at home must avoid visiting crowded places such as markets, lorry parks, church, mosque until they had done the mandatory 14 days of isolation.

He called on all and sundry to avail themselves to be vaccinated, adding that vaccination remained a very critical part of the response to the pandemic.

The CHAG CRIB PROJECT is a two-year project funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) AND UKAID.

It aims at fostering effective collaboration among various stakeholders responsible for leading the response to the pandemic at the district level.

The stakeholders are all facilities belonging to the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) represented in the Kpando Municipality by the Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) represented by the Kpando Municipal Health Directorate and the Kpando Municipal Assembly.