COVID-19: GHS to announce modalities for organising funerals

Ghana Health Service (GHS) says it will soon come out with modalities on how funerals should be organised in the country.

The GHS says this is part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, as public funerals tend to be a super-spreader of the virus.

Addressing the media after a two-day crisis meeting in the Ashanti Region, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said this will help reduce the rising number of infections in the country.

“We have identified the Delta variant in the Ashanti Region and the Greater Accra Region. Once you identify it, the numbers rarely matter. The dominant strain is Alpha when it comes to the variant of concern. We are not in any way recommending a lockdown, we are seeking to ensure the protocols are adhered to, including how funerals are organised.”

“We are in discussion to come out with proposals that limit the spread and make it safer for these events [funerals] to be organised. I think that funerals are such deep cultural events that we cannot do away with.”

Meanwhile, 304 new cases of COVID-19 cases have been recorded as of July 17 per data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The three latest updates given by the Ghana Health Service show that on a daily basis, over 300 cases are recorded.

There has been a surge in COVID numbers, prompting the health service to hold a crisis management meeting and making recommendations to avert a full-blown third wave.

President Akufo-Addo at the Eid-ul-Adha celebrations on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, expressed worry about the laxity in adhering to the safety protocols.

Per the latest update on the dashboard of the Ghana Health Service, two deaths have been recorded, pushing the death toll to 817.

Ghana's active cases currently stand at 3,466.

—citinewsroom