The Ghanaian authorities have located a Nigerian man who disappeared from an isolation centre after testing positive for coronavirus [COVID-19] pandemic.
46-year-old Simon Okafor Chukudi was arrested by personnel of the Upper West Regional Police Command in a compound house near the Wa polytechnic.
He has since been handed over to the COVID-19 team led by the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih.
The Upper West Regional Police Commander, DCOP Francis Aboagye Nyarko confirmed the arrest.
Seven other people he came into contact with have also been picked up and placed under quarantine at the Upper West regional hospital.
The Nigerian national was kept under surveillance at his residence by officials of the Ghana Health Service awaiting the outcome of his test results for COVID-19 which came out positive last Monday.
He was however nowhere to be found when health officials followed up to his residence at Wapaani, a suburb of Wa to transport him to the isolation centre at the Upper West Regional Hospital.
The Regional Police Commander, DCOP Aboagye Nyarko, said the Nigerian was arrested at his hideout following a tip-off it.
He said,
Simon Okafor Chukudi and seven of his close relatives are now on mandatory quarantine at the Regional Hospital with other confirmed patients.
Mr Okafor was part of the six new cases the Upper West Region recorded on the 12th of April 2020 which pushed the total confirm cases to seven. Out of the six new cases, five were imported and the other one travelled from Western Region to Upper West. All six confirmed cases have been in the region for more than three weeks. The Ghana Health Service has since began contact tracing of the newly confirmed cases. #UWRCC Public Affairs#
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, a Guinean who had contracted COVID-19 also escaped from a quarantine facility at Tamale in the Northern Region.
He was subsequently arrested in Accra.
A Deputy Health Minister at the time, Alexander Abban said it was surprising how the Guinean was able to bypass the security barriers in the locked-down areas in the Ashanti Region and ended up in Accra.
