The death rate is one of the key indicators that the Ghana Health Service, GHS, presents when giving updates on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

The death toll in the case of Ghana has steadily risen with attendant increase in the caseload. Whiles the GHS and other experts have submitted that Ghana’s toll was below the global average, for many people a life lost to the coronavirus is one life too many.

This GhanaWeb piece looks at the death toll trajectory since Ghana recorded her first index cases a little over a year ago.

March 2020 ends with single-digit death

Within a space of two weeks after the first cases were recorded, Ghana recorded 5 deaths. According to a WHO document on the coronavirus situation, by the end of March 2020, there had been 152 confirmed cases, 5 deaths, and 22 recovered patients, leaving 125 active cases going into April.

Steady rise between April and May 2020

By the end of May, Ghana’s caseload had passed the 5,000 threshold. With an exact figure of 5,004 confirmed cases, the death toll had reached 36. Between April and mid-May, the figure was at 28 before eight more cases took it to 36 as of May 31.

Death spike in June

According to the GHS, by June 2, Ghana’s death toll stood at 38 with caseload of 8,297. Before the month run out, the death toll had hit the three-digit zone. June 28 statistics indicated that the caseload had reached over 16,700 with 112 deaths.

Six-month steady rise: July - December 2020

The death toll reached 335 from 112 cases. The figure represented an increase of 223 deaths over a six month period spanning July to December 2020.

On average, 37 deaths were reported in each of the months under review. Within this same period, caseload moved from close to 17,000 to 54,771.

Death boom in January, February 2021

The first GHS statistic released in 2021 was on January 7 when a caseload of 56,230 was reported with death toll at 338. By the end of the month the caseload and death figures stood at 68,559 and 433 respectively.

The figures represented a leap of almost 100 deaths as compared to the previous 6-month average of below 40 month-on-month for the second half of 2020.

On the caseload front, a leap of over 13,800 cases raised enough alarm leading to what experts said was the second wave of infections in the country. There was a back and forth over the role that the 2020 elections and festive season played in the boom that greeted the New Year.

By the close of February 2021, Ghana had recorded 611 deaths, an addition of 178 cases from the last update in January when the toll was at 433. In the area of cases, Ghana had hit 84,349 cases, 15,790 more cases from close of January.

The two months thus, saw an increase by approximately 30,000 and 276 confirmed cases and deaths respectively.

Caseload and deaths a year on

March 12, 2021 marked a year since Ghana recorded its index case. The caseload stood at 88,228 with 698 deaths. The country has been credited with effectively handling the pandemic with government’s imposition of targeted lockdowns, closure of borders, enforcement of protocols and other measures.

But for many experts, the rising cases and attendant deaths are enough reason for everyone to take preventive protocols more seriously.

Ghana’s Covid-19 cases as at 13th March 2021

Visit https://t.co/IW9gCmy3wm for the details#MaskUpWithDSD pic.twitter.com/BvBOkzydw2

— Disease Surveillance Dept_GHS (@DSD_GHS) March 17, 2021