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Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has called on the people of Ghana to cooperate with government to use community facilities as isolation centers for COVID-19 patients.

Following the protocols to stop the transmission of the virus, infected individuals have had to be isolated from families and friends into treatment centers where health personnel accord them all medical attention till full recovery.

However, the government's decision to turn some facilities into isolation centers has been met with agitations from residents in the communities where these centers are to be established.

Amidst fears of contracting the virus, the residents have sought to prevent the government from bringing the infected persons into their communities.

Addressing the issue at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, April 16, 2020, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah urged the general public to note that the isolation centers are for their own good and appealed to them to assist in the fight against COVID-19.

He dismissed the notion that the isolation center would further transmit the virus, stating emphatically that the centers are rather designated to treat the patients as well as prevent physical contacts in the various communities.

He implored local communities and other entities to accept offers to use their facilities as isolation centers.

"It is important for local communities to understand and accept such offers because it does a number of things. It protects even the local communities because if somebody is positive, that person can be isolated from the community to prevent potential communal spread and can be assisted with supportive treatment in that facility," he stressed.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also thanked the Ghana Football Association for handing over their Prampram facility to be used as isolation center for the COVID-19 patients.

''It is my understanding that State security apparatus and other Ministries working with the Ghana Football Association are now taking custody of this facility so that in the shortest possible time, it can be added to the list of facilities that are being used," he said.