Coronavirus: Ghana’s death toll rises to 239

Ghana’s COVID-19 death toll Monday, surged to 239 from a previous 231, following the confirmation of eight new deaths in five regions across the country by the Ghana Health Service.

The deceased, all but three had underlying health conditions including hypertension, Retroviral Infection, chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus, among others.

The latest update as provided by the country's health management body, via a designated website however, showed a further decline in the country's active cases to 1,847 from 1,939, as at Sunday, August 16.

The update further confirmed 121 new cases of infection across the country, bringing the country's cumulative cases also to 42,653.

The new infections are from tests conducted on August 15.

It further explained that 16 cases were in severe conditions, with six in critical condition, and three on ventilators.

The active cases, the Ghana Health Service said, were being managed in treatment sites, isolation centers across the country, while some were under home management.

Out of the total confirmed cases, 16,657 were from the General Surveillance; with 25,996 cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing, the update stated.

A total of 427,121 tests have been conducted so far.

Out of this, 155,784 were from Routine Surveillance with 271,337 from Contact Tracing.

The positivity rate is 10.0.

The latest infections take Greater Accra's total cases to 21,212, representing almost 50 per cent of the national total.

The Ashanti, Western and Eastern regions have a total tally of 10,569; 2,899 and 2,097 respectively.

The rest are:

Central- 1,801

Bono East Region – 720

Volta Region – 642

Western North Region – 580

Northern Region – 489

Ahafo Region – 485

Bono Region- 480

Upper East Region – 282

Oti Region- 229

Upper West Region – 88

Savannah Region – 62

North East Region - 18