• This follows 19 of the students contracting three different viral infections detected at the school
• Epidemiologists say the spread is moving into the main Akuse township
Three different viral infections have been detected at the Akuse Methodist Senior High Technical School (AMEST) in the Eastern region, forcing an immediate high-level containment in the school.
The situation has accounted for 19 students of the school, testing positive to the avian flu (H1N1), coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), and the Human Coronavirus (Hcov-229E), including nine of them having co-infections (HCoV-229E +H1N1), reports graphic.com.gh.
Nine epidemiologists from the National Outbreak Investigation Team, from the Ghana Health Service in Accra, who investigated the outbreak for two weeks at the school, explained the severity of the situation, explaining that the spread was moving into other parts of the Akuse community.
This was disclosed at a stakeholder meeting at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly at Odumase-Krobo.
AMEST, which has a population of 2,347 students, 114 teaching staff and 58 non-teaching staff, became the center of these investigations after the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Health Directorate received a report that some of its students were exhibiting symptoms akin to the influenza.
Anthony Baffour Appiah, leader of the epidemiologists, disclosed that from their investigations, the overall positivity rate out of 39 samples was 69.2 per cent (27 out of 39), as of July 14, 2021.
He added that, “Management must also collaborate with school health education programme (SHEP) coordinator and the school health nurse at the school to ensure continuous sensitization.”
The school has had 19 of its students contracted three different viral infections