Two MPs test positive for COVID-19
Two Members of Parliament have tested positive for COVID-19, ghanareport.com sources have confirmed.
This was after some MPs did voluntary testing. 13 staff members of parliament have also tested postive.
The identities of the infected persons are not readily known.
The Speaker of Parliament’s order for mandatory testing for MPs and staff is believed to have been informed by the positive tests found after voluntary tests.
The move, according to the Speaker, was to ensure that all MPs were safe during the COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana.
Health officials have collected a total of 690 samples in Parliament following the directive.
Starr FM reported news of the positive tests and additional checks by theghanareport.com with sources within parliament have also confirmed the news.
But the Director of Communication at Parliament, Kate Addo, has denied the reports.
She maintains no MP nor a parliamentary staff have tested positive for the virus.
In a statement, she said the coronavirus test results of the MPs and parliamentary staff are yet to be released.
“Parliament would like to state categorically that the results of the tests are not yet known and so the report by Starrfmonline is not true… The confidentiality protocol is that, those who test positive will be called directly by the testing team.
“Officially Parliament is unaware of any such call and therefore there hasn’t been any official figures giving by the National COVID-19 response team,” the statement read.
Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu also told Accra based Citi FM that he cannot confirm reports that some of his colleagues and parliamentary staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
“The Director of Parliaments Medical Services is the only person who will know if any Member of Parliament test positive for COVID-19 and the information then will be transmitted to the individual Member of Parliament or staff.”
“So as I stand here, I don’t know if anybody has tested positive so that’s it and I don’t know anybody who will tell you that he/she knows that somebody has tested positive,” he said.