The Kwahu West Municipality in the Eastern Region, with the busy town of Nkawkaw as the capital, has recorded its first three confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease. This was disclosed yesterday by the Municipal Chief Executive, Yaw Owusu Addo. The three, two males and one female, with ages ranging from 25 to 49 years, are currently under mandatory quarantine.
The Municipal Director of Health Service, Celestine Asante, speaking to the Evening Mail, said 250 contacts had been traced and all put under mandatory isolation. Samples of about half of the contacts traced were yesterday sent to the Veterinary Services Directorate Lab for testing, with the remaining samples expected to be sent today, Friday May 22, 2020.
Ms Asante could not confirm if the three cases in Nkawkaw are part of the six new confirmed cases announced yesterday by the Ghana Health Service. She, however, disclosed that all the positive cases all asymptomatic, except one who is having challenge with his sense of smell.
One for Kumasi
Throwing more light on the cases, Ms Asante explained that two of the cases were recorded in the area, while one was recorded in Kumasi.
She said the one tested in Kumasi domiciles in Nkawkaw but reported to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where he tested positive, adding that while he is being taken care of at Nkawkaw, his case will be counted among the cases in Kumasi.
She explained further that one other person voluntarily reported to the hospital to be tested after a person he had lived in the same compound with tested positive for the disease.
She encouraged all Ghanaians to abide by the safety protocols, saying the virus is real.
More recoveries
In a related development, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Kumi-Aboagye, has said there is evidence that the positive cases and facility admissions are gradually declining.
According to him, about 11 out of the 16 regions have not recorded new infections since the country’s last update.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, he explained that from the last update, between May 18 and May 19, a total of 173 new cases were recorded. The Greater Accra Region accounted for 46; Central-27; Eastern-6; Ashanti-35; and Western-57, leaving the remaining regions with no new records of infections.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye added that there were 144 more recoveries over the same period, bringing the current cumulative number to 1,898, an indication of a recovery rate of about 30.2 per cent, with only eight persons currently in critical condition.
He said the country did 187,929 tests from both routine surveillance, contact tracing on persons under mandatory quarantine in their first testing, and achieved 6,269 on a follow up testing of the total number, showing a positivity rate of 3.34 per cent.
He said a large pool of people is currently still waiting for the second test results, which would mark the final certification of total recovery from the infection, and hoped that within the next few days the results would be released for them to be free.
According to the Director-General, the number of admissions in all other isolation and quarantine centres, at both regional and district levels, witnessed decreases in the past week, including the initial total of 31 critical cases that were managed in various Intensive Care Units (ICUs), where six persons with critical underlying conditions died.
