Coronavirus cases in Ghana have hit nine. This was disclosed by President Nana Akufo-Addo today, Thursday, March 19, 2020.
The President said this during a Presidential Prayer Breakfast Meeting with Christian leaders in Ghana at the Jubilee House.
“…We also learned, sadly on Wednesday, that 3 Ghanaians living abroad had lost their lives as a result. With 9 confirmed cases of infections, we might as well count ourselves lucky as one of the countries least hit by the Coronavirus,” he added.
As of Wednesday, March 18, the cases were seven but the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah took to social media site, Twitter to explain that the two extra cases were recorded overnight.
“Unfortunately we have confirmed two more cases overnight. Ghana’s case count is now at 9. Health services are still managing all suspected and confirmed cases well,” he added.
Both cases according to the government were imported.
Update on two additional COVID-19 cases
The Ghana Health Service’s website dedicated to updating Ghanaians on COVID-19 cases said the two additional cases involved a 56-year-old Ghanaian who travelled back to Accra from the UK and a 33-year-old who also came in from a conference in UAE.
“On the 18th March, we received another report form NMIMR indicating two (2) more confirmed cases from the Greater Accra Region. Both are imported cases. One is a 56-year-old man, a Ghanaian who travelled back to Accra from a trip to UK about a week ago. The other is a 33-year-old Ghanaian, who returned to Accra from a conference in UAE. Both cases are receiving treatment in isolation.”
The Ghana Health Service website noted that no death has been recorded yet.
Contact-tracing figure now 399
It also added that 399 contacts have been identified as persons who came into contact with affected persons.
“There is no death, yesterday, we received notification from KCCR indicating two (2) newly confirmed in Kumasi, On contact tracing, a total of 399 contacts have been identified and are being followed up. Nineteen (19) of the contacts developed some forms of symptoms and samples have taken for laboratory testing. We have received results for 15 of them which are all negative for COVID-19 and we are awaiting results for four (4) of them. Currently, there is no death and all the nine (9) confirmed COVID-19 cases are being managed in isolation and are responding well to treatment.”
Health experts warn of more possible COVID-19 cases – Oppong Nkrumah
Ghana is likely to record more cases of COVID-19 within the next two weeks Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed.
He said predictions by health experts are that the number of cases of the pandemic will rise within the above mentioned period before a likely decline of the spread of the disease.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah assured that the authorities have expressed readiness for any impending case and therefore called on Ghanaians to be calm and take precautionary measures seriously.
“The health experts tell us that the next two weeks are critical in determining whether or not we will get significant community spread. They tell us that, the general theory of pandemic management is that, often the numbers are likely to go up a bit before the situation gets better. Therefore, they are bracing for the possibility of some limited recordings of more cases in the medium term but they continue to assure us that, the systems they are putting together are such that we are able to control it and hold this virus in check,” he said.
