Health News of Monday, 19 April 2021

Source: GNA

We are working to avoid a third wave of coronavirus - Ghana Health Service

Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, says government is putting in place measures to halt a possible third outbreak of the Coronavirus disease in the country.

He said with some countries in Europe currently experiencing a third wave of infectious disease, coupled with the rising cases in India and Brazil, it is imperative for government to be alert, especially at the airport to avoid being taken by surprise.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye speaking during the Minister's media update in Accra said the country's COVID-19 numbers at the airport had reduced averaging 90 per week.

However, he said that did not mean the country was out of the woods, saying:
"We still have a significant threat, especially with the third wave in Europe and the rising cases in India and Brazil".

Giving an overview of the country's cases, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said Ghana had conducted over one million tests since the start of testing.

"We have experienced two waves and as you are aware, the second wave is bigger than the first wave. We have significant decline in our cases since mid-February and currently, our active cases have dropped from 8,000 to less than 1,500. In actual fact, it is about 1,314," he added.

The Ghana Health Service Boss said out of the tests conducted, 91,709 cases were positive, representing about 8.8 percent positivity rate.

He said more than 89,000 people have been discharged while 771 people had succumbed to the disease.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye further disclosed that 46 new cases were recorded as of the 15th of April, 2021 with Greater Accra Region recording more than half of them.

"Greater Accra still remains the epicentre because more than half of these were recorded in Accra and currently all 16 regions had recorded a case and 253 districts had reported a case, which means we still have seven districts or so that had never experienced a covid case across the country," Dr. Kuma-Aboagye stated.