Six of the nine novel coronavirus cases recorded in the Volta Region were from foreigners who illegally entered Ghana at least two weeks ago.
The six were travellers from Nigeria “who had entered Ghana through unapproved routes along the Ghana-Togo border near Aflao,” the Volta Regional Coordinating Council said in a statement.
“They were apprehended and have been under mandatory quarantine for the past fourteen days,” the council noted in a statement.
The Ghana Immigration Service has already noted Ketu South and the Aflao-border stretch as an area notorious for illegal border crossings at unapproved routes since the closure of Ghana’s borders.
A statement from the Ketu South Municipal Assembly further indicated that “efforts are being made through the Ministry of National Security for their repatriation to their home country.”
The assembly also urged residents to be calm.
“The number of recorded cases should not alarm you but rather give you hope that pragmatic measures put in place to quarantine these individuals have yielded positive results.”
“Those who had contact with them are therefore advised to quickly try to self-isolate while we continue to contact trace to identify all those who might have come into contact with them,” the assembly added.
The three other cases, which are Ghanaian nationals, include a 48-year-old man, a 22-year-old pregnant woman and a 32-year-old man.
The Volta Regional Coordinating Council noted that “All the three cases confirmed in routine surveillance are not known contacts of COVID-19 cases.”
The 48-year-old man returned to Ho from Accra, the pregnant woman returned to Hohoe from Ashaiman and the 32-year-old man travelled to Hohoe from Tema.
A total of 566 novel coronavirus cases have so far been recorded in Ghana with eight deaths and four recoveries.
The Greater Accra Region has the most cases with 452; the Ashanti Region, 49; Eastern Region, 32; Northern Region, 10; Volta Region, nine; Upper West Region, seven; Upper East Region, four; North East Region, one; Western Region, one and the Central Region with one.
