Increasing covid-19 cases not as alarming – Health Service boss explains
Ghana has been recording 229 daily coronavirus cases over the past week, but the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), says the picture is not as alarming as it is being portrayed.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye explained, the exponential increase is not a sign of a general spread of the virus within communities.
But rather infections within work places or institutions, he said on JoyNews Monday, in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com.
Ghana has recorded 1,606 more cases within seven days, bringing the case count to 11,964.
It prompted an unexpected address by president Nana Akufo-Addo who has urged greater discipline and adherence to the safety protocols.
He said police are to inspect the use of the nose mask starting Monday.
Explaining why Ghanaians ought to be too alarmed, the GHS Director-General said that when the virus spreads through an institution, it could infect up to a 100 people there.
An example is the fish factory at Tema, which had more than 600 infections after an outbreak of contagion at the firm. It emerged one worker at the industrial enclave in the coastal city had infected over 500 other employees with the deadly COVID-19.
But situations like this is easier to isolate and contain when detected, he said.
He pointed out that the country may not see a reduction in accumulative cases. However, the focus is on active cases which health officials are committed to tackling.
Meanwhile, Dr Kuma-Aboagye has emphasised adherence to health and safety protocols in institutions and public spaces as he highlighted that the epidemic is not over yet.
He further explained that the GHS does not have any data to suggest a mutation of the virus found in Ghana.
“We don’t have any evidence of mutation, maybe Noguchi will have to do additional sequencing” for authorities to determine” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.
He, however, stated that there were several strains of the coronavirus common to the ones that broke out in China, the source of the virus.
Ghana has recorded 51 deaths from coronavirus out of the 11,964 cases. The current active cases are 7, 652.