By: Lambert Atsivor | Voltaonlinegh.com |

The Volta region has within a space of one week witnessed an exponential jump in its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The region, which began the week with a case count of ten on Sunday, April 26, 2020, has now hit 30 cases by close of week, Friday, May 1, 2020.

A statement signed by the Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa after a meeting of the Regional Public Health Emergency committee on Friday Evening, gave the breakdown of the 20 new cases as follows:

- Nineteen (19) of the cases were from the Enhanced Contact Tracing Exercise as at 1st May, 2020 and One (1) additional case also recorded from routine surveillance.

- Fifteen (15) of the cases were contacts of the six 6 quarantined travelers in Aflao who were confirmed positive on the 12th of April, 2020.

- The sixteenth (16th) contact to test positive is a 71-year-old woman who is closely associated with a case early on confirmed in Ho.

- The remaining three (3) contacts that tested positive are contacts of cases confirmed positive in Hohoe on the 12th of April, 2020.

- The one (1) additional case detected from routine surveillance is a 45-year-old man who returned to Kpando from Accra on the 20th of April to seek medical treatment after he started experiencing worsening respiratory symptoms whilst in Accra.

- This brings the total number of confirmed cases detected in the Volta Region to thirty (30) as at 1st May, 2020.

All thirty (30) cases, the statement noted are in isolation and were responding appropriately to treatment.

Mass Testing

Meanwhile, the Public Health Emergency Management Committee has upon technical advice sanctioned the mass testing of groups with relatively higher risks in order to get a firmer grasp on the transmission of the virus in emerging hot spots within the Region.

So far, Aflao in the Ketu South South municipality has emerged as the epic centre of the corona virus pandemic in the region, recording, about 21 out of the 30 cases, which represents 70 percent of the region’s total case count.

The statement has therefore entreated all residents to continue to adhere to the preventive measures outlined by the Ghana Health Service so as to help contain further spread of the virus.

Read the Full Statement below

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com