Coronavirus cases hit 52 as confirmed infections almost double in 24hours

Ghana’s coronavirus cases has skyrocketed, hitting 52 in the past 24 hours.

It recorded 27 cases as at Monday night. But Tuesday morning, the Information Ministry has confirmed 25 more cases have been recorded after quarantined persons tested positive.

Ghana has put 1,030 persons at quarantine and collected samples from 611 people for testing.

For the collected samples, 185 tests were completed out of which 25 tested positive.

Commenting on the biggest spike since the first case was recorded on March 12, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said “this vertical risk is quite severe.

Oppong Nkrumah, on March 18, indicated that the next two weeks would be critical in determining whether or not Ghana will record significant community spread.

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Health experts also said the general theory in pandemic management is that often, it is likely that the numbers will go up a bit before the situation gets better.

The Head of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Professor Kwabena Annan, in another briefing, warned the country to brace itself for more cases of the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19.

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As at March 23, Ghana coronavirus deaths stood at two with a record of 27 cases.

All the 25 confirmed cases were receiving treatment in isolation, an update from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) explained.

Among the confirmed cases, 20 are of Ghanaian nationality, the majority of whom returned home from affected countries.

Seven are of other nationals, namely: Norway, Lebanon, China, France, UK.

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In respect of contact tracing, a total of 598 contacts have been identified and are being tracked.

One of the contacts developed symptoms and has been confirmed positive.

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Samples of 611 people have been collected for testing by Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR).

The first death was recorded on Saturday when a 61-year-old Lebanese male trader, Tarik Minkara, passed away at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).