The Corona Virus Disease has killed 37 people in the Sunyani Municipality from January to April this year, Dr Prince Quarshie, the Municipal Director of Health said on Thursday.

This puts the Municipal death toll to 38 after one person died in late 2020, he stated, when speaking at a stakeholders review meeting on the COVID-19 in Sunyani.

He said the COVID-19 Municipal fatality rate stood at 2.7 per cent and there were only nine active cases out of the 444 new cases recorded in the Municipality from this year.

Dr Quarshie added 40 of the cases were recorded among students and appealed to education institutions to strengthen the COVID-19 precautionary measures to prevent a possible spread of the disease.

Care International, an NGO organised the meeting in line with the implementation of its "Stop COVID-19 Initiative" and attended by health workers drawn from the various municipals and districts in the Bono and Ahafo Regions.

With funding from Mars Incorporated, the project aimed at mitigating the impact of COVID-19 in selected cocoa-growing communities in the country.

According to Anala JB Marshall, the Project Manager of Care International, the project further sought to enhance the livelihoods of cocoa-farmer households in 60 communities in Bono, Ahafo, Ashanti and Western North Regions.

Dr Boakye Boateng, the Ahafo Regional Director of Health, said the nation did well in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and attributed the success to many government interventions.

That notwithstanding, he appealed to the public to maintain the good health practices of hand washing with soap, use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, wearing of nose masks and observance of social distancing.

Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh, the Bono Regional Director of Health, expressed regret that many people were disregarding COVID-19 health safety protocols, which could trigger the spread of new infections.

Despite the increase in awareness, Dr Amo-Kodieh noted many people had still not accepted the existence of COVID-19 because of theories and myths surrounding the pandemic.

He, therefore, advised the public to disregard those unfounded theories and obey the protocols to protect themselves and the people around them from contracting the disease.