The Central Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has asked all health facilities and districts to desist from mass testing of any group of individuals unless they are authorised by the Director-General.

In a statement signed by the Regional Director, it said all suspected cases within the Region are also expected to be managed as Covid-19 cases until the results arrive to avoid mortalities.

Currently, the Central Region has recorded 694 cases of the total 12,193 confirmed in Ghana, making the region the fourth highest with the virus.

But the Regional Director, Mrs. Akosua Agyeiwaa Owusu-Sarpong says to ensure effective coordination in "specimen collection and early retrieval of results, all facilities and districts are to contact the Regional Biomedical Scientist at the Regional Health Directorate before specimens are collected".

In her statement, Mrs Owusu-Sarpong also explained that the directives are to strengthen routine surveillance for Covid-19.

According to the release, specimens of suspected persons should only be taken for Covid-19 testing when the case satisfies the approved case definitions.

These case definitions include, "A person with fever or a history of fever and symptoms of respiratory tract illness and has a history of travel or residence in a location reporting person to person transmission.

Secondly, a "person with fever or a history of fever and symptoms of respiratory tract illness and in the last fourteen days before symptoms onset had had close contact with a person who is under investigation or confirmed of Covid-19.