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COVID-19: Government reviews discharge policy
The government has reviewed its discharge policy on patients of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
With the policy, asymptomatic patients would be discharged in 10 days after showing no signs of the disease.
“For asymptomatic patients, 10 days after symptoms of onset, plus at least three days without symptoms, you are discharged without a test,” the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has announced at a press briefing in Accra yesterday.
The days for discharge of symptomatic patients would however remain 14 after two negative tests.
He indicated that, the review was done in accordance with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ghana’s clinical management guidelines on the disease.
In addition, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said, the revised policy was to allow the management of the country’s COVID-19 cases focus on newly infected patients and to decongest its holding centres.
“This is to allow us more time to give attention to those who are newly positive, and also create place in our facilities to be able to take care of more cases,” he said.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye used the platform to explain discharges, saying, discharged persons are those who are healthy, with no traces of virus in their blood and poses no risk to others.
During his turn, the Director of Public Health at the GHS, Dr Badu Sarkodie also provided details of the country’s cases of COVID-19, which showed that the cases had almost reached 13, 000.
He said that, as of June 16, the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana was 12,929, resulting from 339 new cases from 36 districts in nine out of the 16 regions.
The 12,929 was a combination of 8,395 active cases and 4,468 recoveries and 66 deaths.
Meanwhile, 14 patients of the COVID-19 are critically ill, with four others on ventilators.
The regional breakdown comprised of 154 cases from 17 districts in the country’s regional capital, Accra, with 58 cases from two districts in the Western Region.
The Ashanti Region has recorded 41 new cases from two districts, while the Central Region’s new cases were 38, all from one district.
Meanwhile, the Eastern and Volta regions have 15 and 13 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases respectively, from a total of three districts in the two regions.
The remaining 21 cases are from five districts in three regions namely Bono East nine, Northern nine and the Savannah two.
Source: Ghanaian Times
National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Executive Committee member and Volta River Authority (VRA) Board Member, Wonder Victor Kutor, has described calls for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as premature and unjustified.
He argued that there was no evidence to establish that the minister had committed any wrongdoing to warrant such demands.
Speaking on Joy News in Accra on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Mr Kutor questioned what had changed to justify the growing calls for the minister to step down.
He recalled that the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had earlier indicated that the opposition was not accusing Mr Ablakwa of any wrongdoing.
Mr Kutor, therefore, challenged those demanding the minister’s resignation to provide fresh evidence to support their position.
“The call for the Minister to resign is premature, it is untenable. There is no evidence. I mean, what has he done wrong?” he questioned.
He added that documents, including boarding passes, airline receipts and flight manifests relating to the minister’s return journey, had been provided.
Mr Kutor expressed concern that the calls for Mr Ablakwa’s resignation could discourage young politicians from speaking out against corruption and advocating transparency.
According to him, politicians should not be targeted or maligned for demanding accountability, warning that such treatment could create the impression that speaking against corruption could later become a liability when one is appointed to public office.
He maintained that calling for accountability and transparency should not be used as grounds to target public officials without evidence of wrongdoing.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Ghana will host the Africa Festival of Arts, Culture and Creatives (AFESTAC) 2026 alongside Industrial Skills Week Africa (ISWA) 2026 in Accra from December 9 to 12, 2026.
On the back of these programmes, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has called on corporate Ghana, the media and the general public to support the initiative through partnerships, sponsorships and active participation.
The events, supported by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will bring together stakeholders to celebrate Africa’s rich cultural heritage, strengthen the creative economy, promote industrial skills development and create employment opportunities for young people.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
