Authorities of the Obuasi East District Assembly in the Ashanti Region have called for calm after residents at Abusco last stop, a suburb in the district kicked against the siting of a COVID-19 isolation center.
Residents say the location may expose them to the disease.
The residents want authorities to reconsider the decision since the building earmarked as the centre is located in the middle of the town.
“We are not going to allow this thing to come in here. It is going to be dangerous to the communities here. We will never agree with these people to be brought here”, one resident said.
Another resident noted that “the danger this project poses to us here is that the facility is in the center of the suburb. So we do not want them to isolate or host the patients here because if they do, all the people in this community who use this route are likely to be infected.”
Obuasi has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Ashanti Region.
20 out of the 43 districts in the region have recorded cases of Coronavirus with Obuasi leading with 261 confirmed cases.
Last Friday, major markets in the area were closed down after traders failed to heed to social distancing protocols.
DCE justifies choice of location
But the district authorities say siting of an isolation center is part of efforts aimed at containing the further spread of the virus.
District Chief Executive for Obuasi East, Faustina Amissah justified why the chosen location was suitable for a COVID-19 isolation center.
She, therefore, appealed to residents to allow authorities to site the center in the area.
“Every patient must have his or her own facility to be able to contain the infection. The residents shouldn’t resist this because health officials considered so many factors before choosing that area. We are evacuating them from the community to prevent them from spreading the disease. So they won’t spread the disease. The patients will be monitored so that nothing happens to anybody around that vicinity. So, they should be rest assured.”
Meanwhile, authorities are still making efforts to get the aggrieved residents to buy into the decision.
Ghana’s case counts of the novel Coronavirus shot up to 4,700 on Sunday, May 10, 2020.
The number of recoveries has also increased to 494 while the death toll remained at 22.
Regional distribution of COVID-19 cases in Ghana
- Greater Accra Region – 3,641
- Ashanti Region – 252
- Eastern Region – 96
- Central Region – 62
- Western North Region – 56
- Western Region – 35
- Volta Region – 32
- Upper East Region – 26
- Oti Region – 24
- Upper West Region – 20
- Northern Region – 16
- North East Region – 2
- Bono Region – 1
- Savannah Region – 0
- Ahafo Region – 0
- Bono East Region – 0
