The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) wants parents and guardians to ensure that their wards strictly adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols outside the school environment.
According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), twenty positive cases of COVID-19 have been recorded cumulatively in some schools in the Greater Accra Region.
Three of such cases had already been recorded in the Western and Upper West Regions.
Providing updates on the virus to the media on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said contact tracing has commenced to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
“We still have limited outbreak [of COVID-19 cases] in schools across the country. We’ve had some cases in Upper West, Western and Greater Accra. Greater Accra has cumulatively reported about 20 cases in a couple of schools and the contact tracing and isolation are currently ongoing.”
While sharing his view on the issue in a Citi News interview, General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, Thomas Musah, emphasized the need to collectively ensure students adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols.
“When the students come to school, the teachers will make sure they are in nose masks because you don’t go to the classroom without being in a nose mask. While the students are on campus, the teachers will make sure the right thing is done, but the challenge is that if the teacher has not gotten to the school, whose duty is it to ensure that the thing gets to the school and ensure the needs are met.”
Students returned to school in January 2021 after being at home for close to ten months as part of measures adopted by government to curb the spread of COVID-19 which has plagued the country.
Active cases now 5,515
Currently, Ghana’s active cases of COVID-19 stand at 5,515. The death toll has also gone up and currently at 424.
Wearing of nose mark goes up
In a related development, a survey conducted by the Ghana Health Service has suggested an increase in the wearing of nose masks from 10 percent to 42 percent in January 2021.
The research was conducted in about 53 communities in Accra, with the compliance level high amongst persons at the University of Ghana and Okponglo.
The Ghana Health Service urged Ghanaians to comply with the safety protocols to help contain the spread of the virus.
