Community nurse at Tema Polyclinic tests positive for coronavirus

The Tema West Municipal Health Directorate is asking for support for health workers at Tema Polyclinic, following confirmed Covid-19 case at the facility.

A Community Nurse who occasionally visits Tema Polyclinic as part of her routine work, tested positive to the disease on Friday and is currently recovering at home.

The nurse believed to be in her 20s, is the first health worker in the municipality to test positive for Covid-19.

To reduce rate of infection and spread, Tema West Municipal Assembly on Saturday disinfected part of the facility which the case is said to have visited on Friday.

Tema West Municipal Health Director, Dr. Mercy Obrempong told Myjoyonline.com that the necessary steps are being taken to handle the situation.

“There is no need to panic at this point. We are doing everything in our bit to ensure things are back to normal,” she said.

About 300 health staff have been screened, blood samples taken and results expected to be released soon.

The directorate and the hospital are currently using contact tracing to help identify those who might have come in contact with the case.

“Since most of her work is done in the community, the bigger challenge is in the community. Honestly, we are overwhelmed by the numbers and we need help at this point,” she revealed.

“We are frontline workers in this Covid-19 fight but without personal protective equipment, the hand sanitisers, tissue among other things, it’s difficult to win this fight,” Dr. Obrempong said.

The health facility will be resuming full services on Monday.

“There is no need to close down the hospital. We have done the disinfection and is safe to begin services tomorrow. Calls to close it down are out of place. But we will continue assess it from Monday,” she indicated.

Some health workers are expressing fear as they anxiously wait for results of the blood samples taken but the directorate said there is no cause for alarm.

Ghana has recorded 214 novel coronavirus cases with five deaths as the global figure stands at over 1.2 million with almost 66,500 deaths.