Following the discovery of the COVID-19 Delta strain in the school, the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Health Service have partially locked down the Achimota School in the Greater Accra Region.
For the next two weeks, no one may enter or leave the school grounds.
This order was issued after 135 students on campus tested positive with the new strain of COVID-19.
Professor Kwesi Opoku Amankwa, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, has urged parents not to worry, assuring them that steps have been put in place to guarantee students’ safety.
“I want to assure the entire country, especially for parents who have their wards in Achimota that every measure has been taken to ensure that we contain the spread of the virus.”
Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, the Director of Public Health at GHS, told Joy News that day students at the school should remain at home for the next two weeks.
“We are not going to allow any visitation in the school for the next two weeks. The day students are going to be kept at home for the next two weeks, while those who are positive [for COVID-19] are going to be kept in isolation,” he said.
On Sunday, July 4, 2021, the GHS verified the discovery of the extremely infectious form of Coronavirus – Delta at the Achimota School.
Between June 14 and 16, 2021, three GHS students came with influenza-like symptoms in the school’s sickbay, according to GHS.
They were tested in accordance with established procedures, and all three results were positive.
They were then segregated, and all contacts were put on campus under mandatory quarantine.
Meanwhile, early demands for the school’s closure were denied.
For example, Kofi Asare, Executive Secretary of the education think tank Africa Education Watch, said that the circumstances did not necessitate the school’s closure.
“There are protocols that are used in closing schools…
I do not believe we have reached the point of school shutdown. So I believe that the current procedures, such as testing and isolation, will suffice. I don’t believe this is the reason for concern. We just need to go back to fundamentals and do what we were doing correctly.”
Read Also: Google faces new anti-trust lawsuit over app store
SOURCE: ATLFM ONLINE
