2,065 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19

At least 2,065 health workers have tested positive for coronavirus since the outbreak was first recorded in March.

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kumah-Aboagye who revealed this said this is the number of cases as of July 16, 2020.

Out of the figure, 1,870 have recovered.

According to Dr. Kumah-Aboagye, the remaining 183 infected health workers are in isolation, receiving treatment at various centers across the country.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Thursday, Dr. Kumah-Aboagye said six (6) persons in the medical fraternity have died from the disease.

The first to succumb to the infection was Professor Jacob Plange-Rhule, a Consultant Physician and a former Rector of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

He died on April 10 and has subsequently been buried.

In June, the Medical Superintendent of the Kwadaso SDA Hospital, Dr. Harry Owusu Boateng, followed his senior.

The 48-year-old Specialist Paediatrician died at home on Saturday, June 13, 2020, a few days after he complained of ill health.

Retired Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Emmanuel Twagirayesu followed shortly.

The latest to have died is a 55-year-old medical staff at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). He was the head of Physiotherapy Unit and died on Sunday, July 12,2020.

Before him, Dr. Richard Kisser of the Trust Hospital in Accra and a Consultant Surgeon passed on at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC).

“These fallen heroes have contributed immensely to the medical profession and their untimely demise constitutes a big loss to the fraternity,” the GMA said in a statement released on July 3.

A laboratory technician also died of coronavirus, leaving behind a wife and a two-month-old baby.

He was a staff at the Weija-Gbawe Municipal hospital in the Greater Accra Region, and died on Monday, June 22, 2020, at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

The death of a community health nurse was also reported in May.

Ghana recorded 695 new COVID-19 cases on July 16, bringing its cumulative case to 26,125.

Some 22,270 persons have either been discharged or recovered. The death toll still stands at 139.

This was contained in an update provided by the Ghana Health Service’s website responsible for providing COVID-19 information.

Per the update by the GHS, the Greater Accra Region remains the region with the most cases.

Below is the regional breakdown