Covid-19: Bolga Patient Went To Tarkwa Inaccurate, Misleading– Local COVID-19 Team

The COVID-19 team stationed within the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region has rubbished reports that the Coronavirus patient who tested positive in the Upper East was in Tarkwa.

According to the local COVID-19 team, the claim is regrettable, unfortunate, inaccurate and misleading.

The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council after the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in the region had said that the affected patient returned to Bolgatanga on Friday, March 27, 2020, after leaving Tarkwa in the Western Region.

The patient, a 33-year-old woman, had no history of travel outside Ghana nor contact with any of the other confirmed COVID-19 patients.

According to the COVID-19 team in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, the patient rather mentioned Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region where she had travelled to, but health officials mistakenly said Tarkwa.

“Members of the CoronaVirus (COVID-19) Team of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly have monitored with complete dismay and regret the very unfortunate and misleading information and comments circulating on Social Media about a COVID-19 patient from Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region who is reported to have travelled from Tarkwa in Western Region. The information is inaccurate and misleading because investigation conducted as part of contacts tracing by our Rapid Response Team has revealed that the patient does not have any relative in Tarkwa, and has no such travel record from this Municipality to the Upper East Region”, a statement from the team noted.

“…The patient travelled from Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region, not Tarkwa, to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region. Members of the COVID-19 Team hereby debunk this misleading information and comments circulating on Social Media and mistakenly alleged to by the Upper East Regional Minister,” portions of the release added.

Meanwhile, the officials say the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality has not recorded any COVID-19 case.

The COVID-19 team said out of the total of 14 suspected COVID-19 cases in the Municipality, 9 of the test results turned out negative while results of the remaining 5 suspected cases are still pending.

“We entreat all residents in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality and the Western Region at large, not to entertain any fear or panic, but remain calm and adhere to the basic precautionary measures as well as those protocols proposed by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic disease in the borders of our beloved nation”, the team advised.

---citinewsroom