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COVID-19 update: Ghana records 68 cases, one more death

Ghana’s total case count of confirmed COVID-19 hit 68 yesterday, with one more casualty.

A tweet by the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) confirmed the death though it was silent on details of the deceased.

However, media reports allege that the departed who passed at the 37 Military Hospital is in her 70s and said to be the wife of a retired Navy chief.

This brings to three the number of deaths resulting from the pandemic in the country.

Overall, 30 of the 68 confirmed cases have been reported in the general population with the remaining 38 cases among persons under mandatory quarantine.

According to the GHS, samples of 863 out of the 1,030 persons under mandatory quarantine have been tested with 38 proving positive for the virus.

Majority of the confirmed cases are Ghanaians, who returned home from affected countries with seven from other nations namely: Norway, Lebanon, China and the United Kingdom.

With respect to contact tracing, the GHS indicated that a total of 829 contacts have been identified and are being tracked. 

“Total of 860 contacts have been enlisted and being tracked but 161 have completed the 14 days of mandatory follow up so far,” it said.

Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, noted that the Ghana Health Service has deployed 98 and 50 officers to trace contacts of infected persons in Accra, Tema and Kumasi respectively.

Another team, he said, was also identifying facilities for quarantine purposes.

Addressing concerns about the mandatory quarantine, he said the government imposed the current border restrictions and 14-day mandatory quarantine because it was determined that the greatest risk to Ghana in the management and containment of COVID 19 was the importation of cases.

He said government would continue to review measures, when necessary, to ensure the safety of every citizen and stop the spread of the virus in the country.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS and ABIGAIL ANNOH

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