The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye, has refuted claims that political rallies organized in the run up to the December 7, 2020 General Elections accounted for the hike in COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Kuma Aboagye, speaking on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofoɔ Show, argued that the rallies though theoretically looks risky to undertake for which reason mass gatherings were banned, did not affect the figures recorded by the GHS.
“It is about risk assessment. Doing those things in open theoritically looks risky and that’s why it was banned, but with the figures that came out, nothing indicates that it contributed to the rising figures. When you check the map, from the trends, you would find how the numbers were running after the elections,” he said.
He continued that “when we cautioned the public towards the festive season to be health conscious and was ignored, that resulted in what we are experiencing.”
According to him, the rallies had no impact on the cases due to the open space within which the campaigns were organized.
BACKGROUND
In the President’s address to the nation on the measures taken against spread of coronavirus, Update Number 22, he indicated that the number of cases has risen from a little over 900 to 1,924 active cases, 200 new cases are recorded daily according to data by the GHS and severe cases that stood at 18 a week ago, is now 120.
In addition to these figures, critical cases is now 33 from 0 recorded cases two weeks ago. Confirmed deaths have also risen from 338 to 352.
These figures have aroused some fears in the public and media space.