3,372 coronavirus confirmed cases receive treatment at home – GHS

At least 3,372 persons confirmed positive of coronavirus (COVID-19) are receiving care from home, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed.

The infected persons form majority of Ghana’s active case load which stands at 4,058 as of Saturday, July 18, 2020.

Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, while giving an analysis into the country’s active cases at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, pointed out that the Greater Accra Region contributed 59.6 per cent (2,422) of the total number of active cases.

“The number of people in our treatment centres now is 299 and our current bed capacity across the country is 700 so we cannot be said to be overwhelmed. Those in isolation are 387 and places like the Pentecost Convention Centre alone, it is 600 bed-capacity,” he noted.

According to the Director-General, “in the last few weeks,” the country was seeing a decline in the number of positive cases “which means that our strategies and systems are working”.

He was quick however to remind the public not to be complacent with the current outlook and ignore the outlined safety protocols in order to minimise exposure to the virus.

“We should be more focused on reducing the load of active cases by not being reckless because we are not out of the woods yet,” he stated.

Touching on the reported cases of infections among students in some senior high schools, Dr Kuma-Aboagye revealed that all students suspected of the disease have turned out negative.

“With the exception of isolated mild cases, most of the students were asymptomatic and all of them have recovered. We are not having any surge so far and we are still taking measures to prevent any more infections so they can begin their examinations.”

The Head of the Virology Department of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Research (NMIR), Professor William Ampofo, indicated that the various testing laboratories across the country have begun taking delivery of supplies to clear backlog of samples.

“Close to 50,000 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test kits and extraction kits have been distributed among other logistics that were in short supply at the various laboratories. We have identified six more testing sites and they are ready to begin testing.”

Prof. Ampofo, stressed that the “Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) guidelines on Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTS) testing has not changed and our test remains PCR. We are still evaluating the feasibility of other testing methods.

Ghana’s total case count of COVID-19 stands at 27,060 with 23,044 recoveries and discharges done.

According to the GHS, the cases came from “samples that were taken from the period June 22 to July 14, 2020 but reported from the laboratory on July 15”.

Six more casualties has been recorded putting the death toll at 145, with the number of persons in severe conditions at 25, eight in critical conditions and four others, on ventilators.