The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate has admonished the public to continue observing the Covid-19 safety protocols following an upsurge in new cases in the last two weeks.

Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health, Dr Michael Rockson Adjei, said the blatant disregard for the protocols was accounting for the rise in new cases and cautioned the public to avoid practices that could trigger the spread of the deadly disease.

He told the media that the Region had been recording an average of 20 new cases in the last two months but the last two weeks had almost doubled.

“We recorded 39 cases two weeks ago and 37 cases just last week which is worrying considering that our weekly cases in the last two months have been 20 cases averagely,” Dr Adjei lamented.

He said the fight against the pandemic was a collective responsibility of every citizen, adding that no effort of health authorities could stop the spread of the disease if the residents continue to disregard the safety protocols.

He said preventing the disease from spreading was the way to go and the best means to achieve that was the strict observation of the protocols.

“Let us observe the protocols with all the seriousness just like how we did when the pandemic broke so that we can collectively halt the spread of the disease,” he advised.

The Ashanti Region remains the second-highest in terms of Covid-19 cases after the Greater Accra Region since Ghana recorded its first case of the global pandemic on March 12, 2020.

Currently, the Region has cumulative cases of 15,711 out of which 15,381 have recovered, with 253 deaths recorded as at June 13.