The Gold Fields Ghana on Tuesday confirmed a Positive COVID-19 case at its Tarkwa Mine, the worker involved has been isolated and was receiving treatment.

“The worker’s wife had tested positive and had also been isolated. The couple are in stable condition,” a statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said.

The statement, signed by Mr Francis Eduku, Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs, Gold Filed Ghana, said the company received the test results from the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research on Sunday, May 3.

Following confirmation of the case, Gold Fields and the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Rapid Response Team had begun aggressive contact tracing among the workforce and within the mine host communicates, it said.

The statement explained that samples of other work colleagues, who had been identified through ongoing contact tracing exercise, had also been taken.

“These employees are also undergoing self-isolation for the mandatory 14 days. Together with the Municipal team, we have also tracked the employee’s movement over the past few weeks. We are tracing other people with whom the patient might have come into contact within the Tarkwa community,” the statement added.

“We want to assure our employees, members of our host communities and the public that we are on high alert and have activated our COVID-19 Emergency Response Protocols to contain the spread of the virus at our operations and within our host communities.”

Production at the mine had to date not been affected, it said, adding: “We will continue to prioritise the health and safety of our employees and the communities hosting our operations.”