Ghana’s COVID-19 outlook getting better – GHS

The Ghana Health Service says Ghana’s COVID-19 figures are trending in the right direction.

The service’s Director-General, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, explained that progress made will become clearer after the backlog of samples is cleared by next week.

At a press conference on Thursday, July 16, he said the information available to the Service suggests that the seven-day moving average of recorded cases was reducing.

The average has dropped to below 500 after hovering at over 600 in June.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye was speaking after Ghana’s case count rose to 26,125 after 695 new cases dating back to July 13.

“Because we are not able to do a daily count of the cases we test, we do a seven-day average which gives us the real averages of the number of cases per day as we move,” he explained.

“We can see that from the middle towards the end of June, there was a steep rise. In the last one or so weeks, we have seen a decline. We only see the great picture when all the backlog, which we started clearing last week, is completed,” Dr. Kuma-Aboagye added.

Thus he said he still expects that “that the chart is not going to rise up and that it will see a downward trend.”

Ghana’s case count

Ghana has recorded some 695 new cases of coronavirus.

Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the new cases were reported on July 13, 2020, pushing Ghana’s total confirmed cases to 26,125.

Of the total confirmed cases, he said 10,465 positive cases were recorded through routine surveillance and 15,660 positive cases through enhanced contact tracing.

He said a total of 339,491 tests have been conducted.

Active cases, he said, were 3,716 being managed in treatment sites, Isolation Centres and under home Management.

He added that about 25 cases are in severe conditions, eight critical cases and with four on ventilators.

Deaths remain 139, he said, adding that recoveries are 22,270.