Coronavirus: Government confirms seventh victim
Ghana has confirmed its seventh case of coronavirus.
The patient is a 35-year-old Ghanaian male who returned to the country from France, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) revealed Tuesday.
Its Director-General, Dr Patrick Aboagye, said the case was detected in the Greater Accra Region and confirmed after further tests at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
This afternoon (17 March 2020); we have received report from NMIMR that indicated one (1) more confirmed case as positive for COVID-19 in Greater Accra Region
@moigovgh#CoronavirusOutbreak
Visit https://t.co/8xeNSC4TsL for more details https://t.co/8xeNSC4TsL— Disease Surveillance Dept_GHS (@DSD_GHS) March 17, 2020
The latest case means Ghana has recorded seven cases in five days.
The victims have been isolated at undisclosed locations for treatment and are said to be in stable condition.
All of Ghana’s cases are so far imported and are expected to highlight the effectiveness border closure to people from affected countries.
The imported cases came from countries such as Norway, Turkey, the US, the UK and France where the pandemic has reached high levels.
In Ghana, some 350 people who contacted the victims are being traced and monitored, the government has explained.
The government has been under pressure to respond to the pandemic that has killed almost 8,000 globally, with infections racing to hit 170,000.
Earlier in the day, two Italians were turned away whiles a plane-load of passengers with Ethiopian airlines was denied entry.
On the domestic front, the government has banned public meetings, including religious gatherings to contain the spread.
The government has said it is working to obtain $100m from international lending organisations to boost the country’s healthcare system’s ability to respond to the threat.
Coronavirus fears have triggered a reported shortage of hand sanitizers. In response, the government is rallying pharmaceutical industries to produce the disinfectant en masse.
Below is a full statement by the Ministry of Health on the latest development.
As of 17 March 2020, a total of 143 suspected cases have been tested for COVID-19 by Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR).
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This afternoon (17 March 2020); we have received a report from NMIMR that indicated one (1) more confirmed case as positive for COVID-19 in Greater Accra Region. The case patient is a 35-year-old male, a Ghanaian citizen, who returned to Acca from France within the past 14 days. This is another imported case, which brings the total number of confirmed cases to seven (7). The case is being managed in isolation, and he is in stable condition.
With regard to contact tracing, a total of 350 contacts have been identified and are being followed up. Two of the contacts who developed symptoms had their samples tested, but they came out to be negative. Currently, there is no death and all the seven (7) confirmed COVID-19 cases are being managed in isolation and are in stable condition.
Source: Ministry of Health.
Congratulations to the testing team for their quick and vigilance attention.
We pray to God it’s treated within the few people. We pray for their lives too.
Fellow Ghanaians, let try and do the basic preventive etiquette, we would surely conquer COVID19