A health expert has called on the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to outlaw the hunting and selling of bats in the country.
The public was also advised by Dr. Michael Owusu, a virologist at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research, to minimise bat intake and refrain from shaking hands and embracing.
If we had to impose certain limitations, I believe it would be wiser to apply them to bats, he remarked.
"The issue is that if you place the limitation on any bush meat alone, people eating it won't have a problem, but then consuming implies that you'll create the market for those who hunt and prepare it, and this is how you look at it in the wider perspective," he said.
Therefore, if people are catching or hunting for bats and you advise them to limit or cease doing so by this time, they won't do that—instead, they'll move to other creatures that are less dangerous. Therefore, we are examining the consumers and providers.
This appeal follows a nationwide response to the devastating Marburg virus outbreak. Nearly 98 contacts have been kept under under observation, and the infection has killed at least two people.
The population's pervasive misunderstanding of the sickness has put the nation's response plan to the epidemic in danger.
According to the Ghana Health Service, the nation's virus's origin is being investigated.
Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, the Ghana Health Service's director of public health, said his organisation has started intensive contact tracing and will step up surveillance.
Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe noted that in order to stop the spread, the Service has implemented a containment strategy.
"Containment is the focus of our strategy. In order to ensure that we identify all relationships, we include community people who have a deeper understanding of the area. This way, if a situation should arise, we can address it quickly, he explained.
13 out of the 98 people confined, according to Dr. Patrick Kumah Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service, had tested negative for Marburg.
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