The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region, Mr. Ernest Kofie is crying for places in the area to quarantine suspected people of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

So far Jomoro Municipality has not recorded any positive case of the deadly Coronavirus since March 12, 2020 the virus broke in Ghana.

But, according to the MCE, the Public Health Emergency Committee of the Assembly has sent 20 samples to be tested.

In this regard, these people are supposed to be quarantined while waiting for their results but the MCE has revealed that they were finding it difficult to get some places within the Communities of the municipality to quarantine them.

Mr. Ernest Kofie disclosed this to the media in the area on Friday, May 15, 2020.

He said apart from the 20 suspected persons, the Public Health Emergency Committee together with the Ghana Immigration Service always return some Ghanaians believed to have traveled from Accra and Kumasi to cross some unapproved borders to Cote d'ivoire.

"Always we return some Ghanaians who are trying to use unapproved borders to Cote d'ivoire and before we return them, we screen them and if we find some suspected people among them then we have to quarantine them but it is not easy for us", he stated.

"We have decided to quarantine them in some hotels in the Municipality but it is too expensive. Quarantine is expensive, it is expensive to use hotels to quarantine suspected people", he added.

In this regard, the MCE said they decided to find some places within the Communities in the Municipality to be used as quarantine centers but according to him, no Community is ready to offer them a place for the quarantine center.

"In fact, no Community is ready to give us a place to be used as quarantine because they fear and this is giving us a headache", he fumed.

He is, therefore, seizing the opportunity to appeal to the Chiefs and Elders within the various Communities within the Municipality to assist them to get places to be used as quarantine centers.

Commendation

The MCE Mr. Ernest Kofie also took the opportunity to congratulate the health professionals in the area for sacrificing their lives to fight against the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

He added, "In fact I will use this opportunity to commend our security personnel especially the Immigration Officers for dedicating their precious time to monitor and return foreigners to their countries who are using our unapproved borders to enter Ghana, they are doing well and encourage them to continue to work harder for Mother Ghana".

Distribution of preventive items and public education

In the efforts to stem the spread of the killer Coronavirus pandemic in the area, the MCE disclosed that the Assembly has stationed Veronica buckets in all the Communities in the area.

He continued that the Assembly has started distributing nose masks to the residents in the area contain the virus.

He, there, pledged to continue to distribute more nose masks to the residents.

"The Assembly has started distributing nose masks to the residents in Jomoro Municipality to protect themselves against the virus, we have also given some to our security personnel and we will continue to distribute more", he said.

Mr. Ernest Kofie, however, hailed the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area Mr. Paul Essien for distributing so many nose masks to some residents in the area to support in the combat against the virus.

He said the Public Health Emergency Committee of the Assembly has been educating the residents about the Coronavirus.

"We will continue to educate our residents about the Coronavirus to observe social distancing protocols, the wearing of nose masks and hand washing practices", he emphasized.

Mr. Ernest Kofie said so far the Ghana Immigration Service patrolling at the unapproved borders in the Municipality had returned over 50 foreigners.

As of Sunday, May 17, 2020, Western Region has recorded 101 positive cases of Coronavirus with 1 death and 1 recovery.

Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis is leading with 34 positive cases and Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality being second with 27 positive cases.