The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called on religious bodies especially churches to increase compliance with safety protocols as far as the novel coronavirus is concerned.

These include the regular cleaning of devices such as microphones as they are exchanged by speakers during service.

This comes on the back of a survey conducted in some 38 selected churches in the Greater Accra Region.

Sharing the results of its research at a media briefing, the GHS Director-General Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye revealed that "only 41% actually frequently sanitised the microphones that they exchange among themselves."

This, he believes, is worrying as the data gathered also showed 48% of some churches exchanged microphones frequently.

The research further indicated that "the proportion of facemask wearing was highest among church members (92%) compared to ushers/protocol/security (86%), pastors/priests/elders (83%) and choristers/singers (63%)."

He, however, admonished wearing facemasks in the discharge of their mandate during service "because that is when you shed most of the virus."

"If you feel like you can't wear a mask during singing, don't sing," he cautioned at the Information Ministry Tuesday.

Per the findings, adherence to social distancing during interaction among members was 41.9%.