General News of Monday, 18 January 2021

Source: rainbowradioonline.com

Political rallies contributed to Coronavirus cases - Dr. Serebour

NPP and NDC rallies NPP and NDC rallies

General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebour, has stated that it would be medically unwise for anyone to suggest that political campaigns and rallies last year did not contribute to the coronavirus cases in Ghana.

Speaking on the recent spikes in our cases and the argument that the new cases were spread through parties, weddings, and other activities and not the political activities, he disagrees.

He insisted no one can convince him that we did not record cases through the rallies.

Dr. Serebour told Kwabena Agyapong on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm that “I don’t speak for the president but in my view, the address from the president was an update from his 21st address. However, no one can tell me that the 50,000 something plus cases we recorded had no cases from the political activities. I am not sure that position is true. In my personal view, that position is not true. It is not entirely true. The truth is that, in December, our cases increased.”

According to him, the GMA had warned of the spikes when we started taking the protocols for granted.

The truth he noted is just one and the current situation in Ghana is dire, he added.

He asked authorities to intensify efforts so we could prevent any further spikes.

He also advised Ghanaians to take the protocols seriously to prevent the spread of the virus.

Young persons he bemoaned are now perishing compared to the era where we had persons with underlining health conditions perishing in the past.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his Sunday’s address expressed worry that “…we have seen an upsurge in the number of active cases, from a little over nine hundred (900) to one thousand, nine hundred and twenty-four (1,924). Our COVID-19 treatment centers have gone from having zero patients to now being full because of the upsurge in infections.

Particularly worrying is the fact that the Ghana Health Service is recording, on the average, two hundred (200) new cases of COVID infections daily. The number of patients requiring hospitalisation and intensive care is rising. The number of severe cases, which stood at eighteen (18) a week ago, has increased sharply to one hundred and twenty (120). Two weeks ago, there was no critical case, we now have thirty-three (33) in our treatment facilities. Again, according to statistics from the Ghana Health Service, the considerable number of persons who are severely ill are, surprisingly, relatively youthful persons, with no previous underlying health conditions. The number of confirmed deaths has increased, sadly, from three hundred and thirty-eight (338) persons to three hundred and fifty-two (352) within the period.”