Upsurge in COVID-19 cases result of poor handling – NDC flays govt
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says government’s “poor” handling of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has contributed to the upsurge in confirmed cases in the country.
It said the further worsening of the positive case counts in the county did not inspire confidence in the government’s fight against the ravaging pandemic.
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The National Communications Officer of the party, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, who was addressing the media in the NDC’s 7th press briefing in Accra last Monday, said Ghana was fast-losing the COVID-19 fight due to the “careless and directionless leadership of President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo,”
Mr Gyamfi further stated that the ever-increasing positive case count was mounting pressure on the country’s already constrained health system adding that many health facilities across the country, including the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, had been compelled to suspend other critical emergency health services.
Setback
Mr Gyamfi, who described government’s reduction of testing and contact tracing as a major setback to the country’s COVID-19 fight said “Government’s refusal to pay contact tracers their meagre motivational allowances, despite Parliament making financial provision for same, has led to the complete abandonment of contact tracing, thereby letting loose the ravaging virus in our communities.”
“Our severely constrained testing capacity and shortage of test reagents and other vital supplies, which accounts for the huge backlog of samples waiting to be tested at both the Noguchi Centre for Medical Research and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), is further exacerbating our failing fight against the virus,” he emphasised.
According to him, the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers had occasioned an alarming rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths among health workers and renowned health experts.
Worrying
He added that the lack of isolation facilities to contain the country’s positive cases was very worrying stating that “currently, most of our hospitals and health facilities are full and overstretched, leading to the suspension of other critical emergency health services, while our ICUs are also getting full.”
A situation which he said had led to an increase in the self-isolation of positive cases thereby undermining the country’s COVID-19 fight.
Mr Gyamfi further stated that the alarming COVID-19 infections among top officials of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the shutdown of key state institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education among others was evident of government’s “failed efforts” in the fight against COVID-19.
“The inconsistent and doubtful data on our COVID-19 situation, leading to loss of public confidence is a major problem. The several instances of manipulation of data by government to create a false sense of security, instead of reporting the true facts as they pertain to our situation has gradually chipped away public confidence in government’s management of the pandemic,” he stated.
Reasons
Outlining the reasons why government was losing track of the fight against COVID-19, Mr Gyamfi said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s refusal to close the country’s borders as well as adopt containment measures on time was the major cause of the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.