The Ashanti Regional Health Director, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang has disclosed that the rate at which frontline workers in the Region contract the coronavirus pandemic is as a result of failure to identify the classical symptoms of COVID-19.

He explained that most of the cases in the Ashanti Region do not exhibit the normal symptoms hence frontline workers' inability to discover and isolate patients as possible.

He, therefore, called on the need for health workers to be well informed about the concealing symptoms of the virus in order to take caution.

“We need to build the ability of our peripheral capacities also to support the process. Most of the deaths do not come with the classical signs symptoms that we know. The cough and difficulty in breathing sometimes are absent; all that we get is malaria-like symptoms.

“By the time we get to know its COVID, a lot of health workers have been exposed and because of that most of them are now doing health isolation. So there is the need also for the national level to reveal the signs and symptoms to share with the private facilities. So that we do not focus only on certain sides and symptoms because, in the Ashanti region, we are seeing a different picture,” he added.

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COVID-19: 97 Health Workers affected in the Ashanti Region

The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, updated the media on Measures Taken to Combat Spread of Coronavirus at the Regional Directorate conference center at Adum Kumasi. The Ashanti Region as of Wednesday, June 17, 2020, has recorded 2,403 with 38 deaths.

97 health workers have contracted the virus while one has lost his life. Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang took the opportunity to express condolence to the loved ones of Dr. Harry Owusu Boateng, the Medical Director of the Kwadaso Seventh Day Adventist Hospital who died on Saturday after contracting the virus.

He urged all the front line workers to keep working hard to overcome the intimidation posed by the disease irrespective of the harm caused.

“This is the first time we have lost one of our hard-working doctors in the Region and we believe that we have to continue to work hard to prevent the infections so as to save lives. It is an unfortunate situation and we do not want to see such occurrences anymore. Yesterday when we visited, there was a lot of pain, and bitterness among some of the workers but what I am saying is that they should try to be very calm. It’s a very difficult fight and we know they are always there to support us," he encouraged.

He further updated that almost all the beds at the treatment centers are full and need an expansion to accommodate patients of coronavirus in such a time where the numbers keep mounting. He made known that the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has its 18 beds occupied, including Kumasi South Hospital, which has a total of 20.

“We need to expand the number of beds we have for the treatment centers. So we have decided to expand Kumasi South Hospital from the existing 20 beds to 41 beds. As of now, we have been given another ward. Work is rapidly ongoing to make sure we 've expanded it.

“We have also secured seven beds at Suntreso hospital to support our treatment facilities and are negotiating with one of our senior doctors who have decided to give us his hospital to be used as a treatment center.

“When that is also done, we can add about 100 beds to make sure that we have about 138 beds because the numbers we have and the cases we are getting is such that we cannot contain it.,” he ended.

Ghana as at June 16, 2020, has recorded 12, 193 cases of COVID-19