COVID-19 patient recaptured after escaping from quarantine
A combined team of the Birim Central Municipal Health Directorate, the Oda police and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has recaptured a 27-year-old covid-19 patient who escaped from his confinement at Akwatia in the Denkyembuor District in the Eastern Region last week.
Kwame Oduro was recaptured last Saturday at Apam in the Central Region where he had taken refuge.
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He has since been taken to the Kasoa Treatment Centre for quarantine and medication.
Briefing
Briefing the Daily Graphic at Oda yesterday, the Birim Central Municipal Director of Health Services, Mr James Avoka, said the Denkyembuor District Taskforce on covid-19 spotted Oduro at a check point at Akwatia.
He said his temperature was found to be far above normal, so he was referred to the hospital where his sample was taken and later confirmed by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research to be coronavirus positive.
Lockdown
Mr Avoka said Oduro was among a number of people who fled Accra to Akwatia when the President announced the restrictions on movement in the city.
He said Oduro was confined to Akwatia by the Denkyembuor District Assembly under police supervision, while steps were being taken to send him to Accra for quarantine and medical treatment.
Mr Avoka said on April 28, 2020, the policeman guarding him sought shelter at the nearby barracks when it threatened to rain, but on his return he realised that Oduro had escaped.
He said through investigations, the police tracked him to a village near Akwatia and later Oda and Akyem Aboabo.
They caused announcements to be made on radio stations in Oda that whoever was harbouring the suspect should send him to the BNI Divisional Office at Oda.
He said Oduro escaped to Apam when he heard the announcements.
He said the Oda BNI collaborated with its counterpart at Apam and that led to Oduro being recaptured at his hideout in the community last Saturday.