No death has been recorded since the diarrhoeal disease was first reported at the University of Cape Coast in October this year and sweeping through communities in the metropolis prompting officials to be on the lookout.Cholera treatment centres have been established for the management of cases, while rapid response teams and public health management committees reactivated, Dr Badu Sarkordie, Director of Public Health Division of the Ministry of Health, told reporters on Wednesday.

Logistics and other medical supplies have been deployed to the region and two treatment centres established there to mitigate the number of reported cases, he said.Needed logistics and funding support for management of the outbreak have been sent to the regional health directorate to support the Metropolis, he said.

“All regions and districts have been put on high alert,” he said, while water, sanitation and hygiene interventions started in collaboration with development partners and are found to be “very effective.”He said the affected population continued to be at high risk of contracting the infectious disease because people continue to drink unsafe and contaminated water, consume un-hygienically prepared or contaminated food and practice open defecation.  

Dr Sarkordie advised the public to often keep some sachets of oral rehydration solution (ORS) at home.“It will be good idea to have few sachets of ORS at home. If there is none at home, take a lot of fluids such as coconut juice or lots of potable drinking water,” he said.“Go immediately to the nearest health facility. Continue to drink ORS at home and while you travel to get treatment.”

Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, the Deputy Minister of Health, said: “the good news is that they [patients] were reporting to hospitals early and the situation is not as bad as it may seem.”“There is a concerted effort in Cape Coast metropolis in the way they handle sanitation so that we can scale up and bring down the number of cases,” he said, noting that “cholera has been with us since the 1970s.”

 He said the contingency measures being put in place including introduction of social mobilization and risk communication has helped to contain the current outbreak.As of November 1, a total of 157 cholera cases with no deaths have been reported in Cape Coast Metropolis in the Central Region.