Ghanaian Times: Don’t let your guards down due to COVID-19 data predictions

The news that Ghana has reached its peak of COVID-19 data predictions of confirmed coronavirus cases is welcoming refreshing.

According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the country has consistently seen a reduction in the number of positive cases in the last few days.

On Tuesday, May 5, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) also announced that it had completed testing of backlog of 18,000 samples of COVID-19 and that it could now conduct real time test.

The Ghanaian Times is happy about these developments at this difficult time when the country is trying to contain the virus and ultimately find a cure for the disease.

Before now, the question on the lips of many Ghanaians was when would the country see a decline and eventually halt the spread of the disease.

It appears that question can be answered with the explanation given by the GHS for the downward trend of the confirmed cases that we were told started declining towards the end of April.

We can only hope that the data that the GHS used to determine the decline is a true reflection of what is happening on the ground.

Indeed, all the countries that are projecting the downward trend of positive cases based their predictions on data which helped guide those decisions.

The concern however is that, the data may not be a full glimpse into reality and, therefore, it should not be a reason to let our guards down.

What is important for us to know is that we have peaked and we must continue to adhere to the protocols so as not to allow the disease to take us unawares and spread again. We applaud the efforts by all relevant institutions particularly the frontline health care providers who continue to work tirelessly to curb the spread of the pandemic.

It is not in doubt that Ghana has made remarkable progress in the fight against the pandemic as only few weeks ago, Ghanaians were living in a state of constant paranoia following the outbreak of the disease in the country.

So far, the country has recorded 3,091 confirmed cases, 18 deaths and 303 recoveries.

We are confident that life would sooner than later return to normal but it would take all Ghanaians to work together to achieve normalcy.

Indeed, the fight against COVID-19 is a shared responsibility and we urge the public to cooperate and support government’s effort in winning the war against COVID-19.

As we commend institutions and individuals who contributed in diverse ways to contain the virus, we caution against complacency as dropping our guards could have dire consequences.