More
young persons than adults are getting infected with the deadly Covid-19 in
the Ashanti region.
According to statistics from the
regional health directorate, 50 percent of 163 confirmed cases fall below 50
years, with the youngest being 10 years old.
Authorities say 17 of the region’s 43 districts have recorded confirmed cases of the virus, with Obuasi Municipality topping with 47.
As it stands now, 119 of 163 persons
who have contracted Covid-19, are aged between 10 and 49.
Forty-nine cases are in the age
groups of 20 and 29, 33 of them range from 30 to 39, and 11 are under 19-years.
Patients between 40 and 49 years
accounted for 26 of confirmed cases.
Ashanti Regional Health Director, Dr Emmanuel Tinkorang, disclosed that the youngest Covid-19 victim in the region is a 10-year-old.
“If you look at our data, you
realised that this time it’s the young people who are basically infected;
it’s because they are taking the risk,” said Dr Tinkorang, Ashanti Regional
Health Director.
Dr Tinkorang, hwever, faults the high
infections among the youth on recklessness.
“Young people always and especially the male always want to take risk. How many old people do you see in town?” he asked.
“You
see when you are getting to a certain age, your risk perception changes. And
when you go to town and you see what is going on, then you don’t have to
dispute it.
“I can even without any test tell you
that if people are going to get infected, then it would be the young ones,” he
added.
Meanwhile, health authorities are
targeting high risk persons whose work exposes them to large traffic in a new
mass testing regime.
Dr Tinkorang notes the move is part
of efforts re-organise and redesign Covid-19 management protocols.
“We will adopt the principle of
tracing, testing and isolation. That is the basic principle. This time, we are
going to focus basically on the high risk group. When we talk about high risk
group, we mean people who frequently come into contact with one another.
“For instance, commercial drivers,
hairdressers, market women who are always in touch with the people; we can add
the security agencies,” he said.
Below is the full statistics
according to the Ghana Heath Service;
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