COVID-19: Total cases now 23,463

Ghana has recorded 641 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s cumulative number of infections to 23,463.

The Routine Surveillance regime recorded 9,403 cases, while the Enhanced Contact Tracing saw 14,016 positives.

However, the active cases are 4,717, following 18,622 clinical recoveries and 129 deaths.

Of the active cases, 26 persons are severely ill, eight in critical condition and six on ventilators.

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, who gave the update on the Case Count and Management at the Information Ministry’s press briefing in Accra, on Thursday, said a cumulative of 322,910 tests had so far been conducted.

He, however, explained that the new cases being reported were based on a backlog of results from samples, majority of which were dated as far back to mid-June.

He attributed the lateness to the challenges facing the testing institutions, saying once the build-up was cleared the GHS would now be able to provide the public with real-time data.

The Government has announced the receipts of more reagents and other supplies to resolve the situation, saying more deliveries were expected shortly.

The Director-general said the new figures came from 52 districts across eight regions, of which the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Central remained the major hotspots.

The Greater Accra Region alone contributed 388 of the cases, from 16 of its districts.

The majority of them were from Korle-Klottey, La Dadekotopon, La Nkawntanang, Ledzokuku, Accra Metro, Ayawaso West and Tema districts.

The Ashanti Region also contributed 148 cases from 18 districts, with the majority of them being from the Kumasi Metro; while Eastern recorded 52 cases from seven of its 33 districts.

A greater number came from Abuakwa North, he said.

The Central Region recorded seven cases from three districts; Northern 23 cases from three districts; Western six new positives from six districts, and Volta five from four districts.

The Upper East, North East, Western North, Savannah, Oti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo did not record any new cases during the period.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said with the active cases, Greater Accra had 3,000 cases; followed by Ashanti-912; Central-230; with the Upper East and North Eastern presenting one case each.

Dr Aboagye said a graphical view of the country’s current moving average (the seven-day average number of cases recorded), indicated that it was recording about 500 cases daily, showing a downward trend on the curve.

However, this was still on the high side, he pointed out, saying the GHS was hoping for a further drop in the figure within the next few days.

For this to be achieved, however, he urged citizens to strictly observe all the safety and hygiene protocols.

Dr Kumah-Aboagye warned residents in high risk communities with high infection rates to be very responsible and observe all the preventive measures to save their lives and that of others.

They should, therefore, maintain social distancing and wash their hands frequently with soap under running water, among other preventive etiquette.

Source: Graphic