COVID-19: Gov't Uses Drones To Transport Samples For Testing

The Government of Ghana has introduced the use of drones to transport samples to be tested for Coronavirus to laboratory centers in the country.

Addressing the nation on Sunday, April 19,2020, President Nana Akufo-Addo indicated that the drone system is adopted as part of measures to expedite test for the virus.

''Government has also introduced the use of drones to expedite the transportation of samples to laboratory centres. On Friday, 17th April, for example, fifty-one (51) samples were delivered from the Omenako Drone Distribution Centre to Noguchi. Furthermore, we are introducing rapid results testing to augment our surveillance and enhanced contact tracing efforts, so that we can quickly isolate and treat confirmed cases'', he said.

Ghana has so far recorded 1042 Coronavirus cases with 99 persons fully recovered and over 60000 people testing negative for the virus.

The President indicated that ''since the first two (2) cases of infections were recorded on our shores, we have, till date, traced some eighty-six thousand (86,000) contacts, out of which we have test results of sixty-eight thousand, five hundred and ninety-one (68,591) contacts. There is, thus, a backlog of some eighteen thousand (18,000) tests whose results are yet to be received. The overwhelming majority of these contacts have been established in the last three weeks of the partial lockdown in Accra and Kumasi. Out of this number, one thousand and forty-two (1,042) persons, i.e. 1.5%, have been confirmed as positive, with sixty-seven thousand, five hundred and forty-nine (67,549), i.e. 98.5%, testing negative; ninety-nine (99) persons have recovered and have been discharged; and nine hundred and thirty (930) persons, who have been isolated, are responding to treatment either in their homes or in treatment facilities''.