Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Aboagye
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has explained that the sharp increase in the number of recoveries in Covid-19 cases in Ghana is backed by science, and in strict compliance with the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Asaase Radio yesterday, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said there has been a review of the global policy on Covid-19 recoveries, adding that the implementation of the reviewed policy is responsible for the sudden rise in the recovery figures.
“Global studies have shown that after ten 10 days, you are not able to share the virus; that is, even if you are positive, you are not able to infect anyone else whether you are sick or not. We have also noticed that if you are positive and you do not fall sick within the incubation period of 14 days, you are not likely to get sick again, so you actually clear the virus from your system.
“It is upon this that we looked at the policy globally and on May 27, WHO came out with the guidelines that anybody who after the 10th day is asymptomatic can be discharged because you cannot spread the virus,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.
“For those who are sick, 10 days after being positive, if you can have three consecutive days of being asymptomatic, they can also be discharged,” the GHS Director General added.
Figures
Ghana over the last 10 days has recorded consistent increases in recovery figures as compared to previous weeks since the virus was first detected in the country.
As of June 17, 2020, Ghana’s recoveries stood 4,410. On June 18, the figure rose to 4,548. As of yesterday, June 21, the official Covid-19 website of the Ghana Health Service, www.ghanahealthservice.org/Covid-19, puts the recovery figure at 10,074.
The total number of confirmed cases in the country stand at 13,717. By extension, the number of active cases in the country are 3,558, while 85 people have so far lost their lives as a result of Covid-19.
