Two students of the St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary in Wa, have tested positive for the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

The two individuals, who reported to the school from Wa in the Wa Municipality and Hamile in the Lambussie District when school resumed on January 15, 2021, had been isolated at the Upper West Regional Hospital Isolation Centre.

Reverend Father PamphilioTengan, the Rector of the School, confirmed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Wa on Thursday,

He explained that the contact of those students had been identified and isolated within the campus on the advice of health officials awaiting testing at the weekend.

“One of the students got ill and was sent to the Municipal Hospital on Monday night and his samples were taken and on the evening of Tuesday the Hospital team came with a message that the samples have tested positive and they were to take him to the Regional Hospital Isolation Centre”.

Then on Wednesday in the morning another student reported to the clinic with compliant and the Municipal Health Directorate came and requested that the student be sent to the hospital...and in the evening we received information that he had also tested positive. These are the two cases,” Rev. Father Tengan explained.

He noted that they were not considering sending the students back home as that would lead to spreading the virus, and added that the School was in touch with the health directorate and other stakeholders to control the incident.

The Rector stated that the School had received the government Personal Protective Equipment, adding that the students were observing strict COVID-19 protocols.

The St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary currently has a student population of 181, comprising the second and third-year students.

Meanwhile, Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services (GHS), when contacted said they were doing further investigations on the issue to ensure the safety of students in the school.

He said there was, however, no need for panic as they were putting in all necessary measures including identifying, isolating and testing all those the two have had contact with to ensure their safety.

Meanwhile, the Upper West Region has 40 active cases out of a total of 136 confirmed cases according to the Ghana Health Service COVID-19 website.

Mr Razak Z. Abdul-Korah, the Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the service would continue to sensitize all students against any panic and the need to continue to strictly observe the protocols to ensure safety in the various schools.

He said the Region had received the government Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and had already distributed to the districts for onwards distribution to the various schools.

Mr Abdul-Korah urged all to be ambassadors of the GES initiated a “Back-To-School” campaign programme in order to ensure that all school children return to school to continue their education.