The University of Ghana management has reassured students, staff, and the general public that the recent surge in COVID-19 cases on campus is being closely monitored, noting that the cases reported so far have been mild, with no hospital admissions or deaths recorded.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Gordon Awandare, commended both management and students for their efforts to contain the spread of the virus. He attributed the absence of hospitalisations and deaths to the university’s proactive measures and the community’s adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
“Although students were not happy with the decision to suspend their programs, we’ve seen that the rate of infection is going down per the numbers received, and the positivity rate is reducing,” he said.
Prof. Awandare also linked the resurgence of COVID-19 on campus to recent social gatherings, particularly an “artist night” event, hence, the suspension of such gatherings to mitigate the spread of the disease.
“The background of this particular outbreak seems to be one of those ‘artist nights’ where we think there was some super spreading that took place. Afterwards, we started seeing spiking cases. We had to learn from that and stop such programs from continuing,” he explained.
Management remains optimistic that, with data from the Ghana Health Service, the COVID-19 situation on campus will soon be under control. Staff and students are urged to continue observing all safety protocols.
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Story by Wonder Mansah Agbengu | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Michelle Lartey
