GHS Boss erred, Mfantsipim has no COVID-19 case – Ass. Headmistress

Authorities at the Mfanstipim School in Cape Coast have denied reports of positive COVID-19 cases among their students.

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, at a news conference on Tuesday said, the school had recorded three confirmed COVID-19 cases.

But the Assistant Headmistress of the school, Agnes Amoah, said their inclusion on the list of schools with COVID-19 cases was an error on the part of the GHS boss.

Madam Amoah tells Accra-based Starr FM that both the Central Regional and District Directorate of Health have admitted that there are no cases of the virus at the school.

“It’s not true that Mfantsipim has recorded a case of COVID-19. So we are assuring parents that there’s no case of COVID19 at Mfantsipim. When we went to seek clarification, we were told that it was a slip of tongue from the Director-General of Ghana Health Service,” she said.

Theghanareport.com contacted the Central Regional Director of Public Health, Dr. Kwabena Sarpong who confirmed Mfantsipim School had no COVID-19 cases.

According to him, the information put out by the Director-General was inaccurate.

“It is not true. We are talking to his office to rectify it,” he told theghanareport.com.

He, however, hinted that some schools in the region had suspected cases of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has served notice that SHS students whose parents picked them from campuses over COVID-19 fears will be isolated during exams.

According to the Chairman of the GES Council, Michael Nsowah, the intention of the planned action is to ensure that the students coming from home do not put their colleagues who stayed on campus at risk.

“If we are unable to contain the pandemic in schools and send the students home, are we not endangering the general community? Parents are free to take their children home, but when the time comes for exams, they [Students] will be isolated,” he said.

He stressed that cases of COVID-19 in secondary schools are not widespread.

“So far, from all the schools that I have visited, there’s no case of COVID-19. So far, I hope it doesn’t spread but we have 700 schools, does it mean every school must shut down? As we speak I’m in the Northern to inspect that all logistics that students were supposed to receive have been provided”.

Some senior high schools, including the Accra Girls, have confirmed cases of the virus with a teacher and a spouse being affected too.