Following reports of confirmed cases of Marburg and Ebola diseases in neighbouring Guinea and La Cote d’Ivoire, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has intensified border surveillance and health screening of persons entering the country from particularly those countries.
Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, at a Ministry of Information weekly media briefing, announced that the Service had sent red alert messages to its regional offices to strengthen their border surveillance.
He said the Service had put in place an epidemic readiness and response system since the advent of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and had, under the same strategy, intensified public education and sensitization on the Marburg and Ebola diseases.
The GHS Director-General also mentioned that his outfit was collaborating with the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and other relevant agencies to track and prevent illegal entry of person into the country.
According to Dr Kuma-Aboagye there was currently no approved vaccine or treatment for the Marburg, which has haemorrhaging fever as one of its major features. Some other symptoms of the diseases include nausea, jaundice, abdominal pains, vomiting, sore throat and headaches.
He used the occasion to urge the public to continue to observe the COVID-19 safety protocols, as the Service and government continue in their effort to procure and administer the vaccines.