There is growing indignation and panic among residents in Cape Coast especially, those residing in Nkanfua and Ankaful as they expressed fear after a clergyman was confirmed the first to test positive to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the metropolis.

Their heightened fear since the announcement on Wednesday evening was because the 57-year-old clergyman had allegedly been offering consultation and counseling services to his church members after his return from the United Kingdom.

They have therefore called on the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to intensify its contact tracing in the metropolis and ensure that all those who might have had contacted him were identified and quarantined accordingly.

It had become the topical issue at the two communities, where the patient’s house and church respectively located as residents shared their thoughts on what to do to contain the spread of the dangerous disease in the Metropolis.

The GNA visited the two communities around 0930 and 1015 hours Thursday morning and observed that the vicinities were generally calm and quiet.

However, some residents could not understand why the patient did not quarantine himself after his return despite the Government directive to all returnees from abroad to self-quarantine.

“Now we are not safe here. I am scared because this disease is no respecter of persons. We only have to pray for God’s protection”, Madam Rebecca Bannerman told the GNA.



Another resident at Ankaful said, “I think that all those close to him especially his family must be located and quarantined”.

However, the GHS has said 13 contacts including family members and health workers were traced with some going into self-quarantine, while others were placed in isolation in a facility and their initial specimen taken for testing.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kwamena Duncan, Central Regional Minister called on residents to remain calm as the Regional Response Team worked to contain the disease.

He said all the 22 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies had response teams in place working in coordination with the Ghana Health Service and other stakeholders to check the spread of the disease.