Coronavirus: Govt denies compulsory mass testing, affirms enhanced testing measure

Source: https://www.ghanaweb.com/ | 1 April 2020

The Government of Ghana has come out to clarify what it describes as a misinterpretation of its enhanced testing measure in the COVId-19 fight to be a mass and compulsory testing exercise.

Speaking at the Ministers Press Briefing this morning, the Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said what government intends to do with the enhanced testing exercise is to ramp-up its measures by testing all contacts of confirmed cases, persons who have arrived in Ghana from foreign countries within a certain period and persons in hotspot areas who may be picked out by officials through surveillance.

He indicated that contrary to assertions that there is going to be a compulsory mass testing in some jurisdictions, officials are rather going to conduct surveillance in hotspot neighbourhoods through which people deemed potentially to be infected will be tested.

Yesterday the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly in a release indicated that there was going to be among other things a compulsory house to house testing of every individual residing in the municipality.

The minister reacting to this in his address indicated that such a measure will not be logistically prudent.

Prior to today’s briefing, Ghana’s case count of COVID-19 stood at 161, but the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu revealed that the number has risen to 195 with death figures still at 5 and full recoveries at 3. He also indicated that a good number of the cases are coming up to full recovery.