Coronavirus cases in Ghana rise to 24

The novel coronavirus cases recorded in Ghana have risen to 24.

“Twenty-three of the confirmed cases are receiving treatment in isolation and one of the cases who had an underlying chronic pulmonary condition prior to having COVID-19 died [on Saturday, March 21],” the Ghana Health Service said in an update.

The remaining 23 infected persons “are being managed in isolation, and are doing well on treatment,” the service added.

There is no geographical breakdown of the three new cases yet.

So far, most of the cases have been detected in the Greater Accra Region.

Among the confirmed cases in Ghana, 17 are Ghanaian and seven are foreign nationals from Norway, Lebanon, China, France and the UK.

“With regards to contact tracing, a total of 575 contacts have been identified and are being tracked,” according to the service.

The service added that one of the contacts developed symptoms and was confirmed to have the virus.

As at 2 PM on March 22, 315 suspected cases have been tested for COVID-19 by Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), the service also noted.

The government has moved to improved testing for the virus and is in the process of securing some 50,000 test kits.

The President has assured that all persons who may have come into contact with any patient who tested positive for the virus will also be tested.

Globally, there have been over 316,00 novel coronavirus cases, over 13,592 deaths and over 94,175 recoveries.