Ghana has recorded 223 new cases of the novel coronavirus, shooting the country’s total case count to 12,193, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has announced.
The director was speaking at a press briefing by the Ministry of Information on update of Ghana’s situation.
According to the Director General, 70 of the new cases were from the Ashanti Region, 42 were recorded in the Central Region while the Savanna Region recorded 34 cases.
Dr. Kuma Aboagye also mentioned that four more infected persons have died, bringing the total death recorded to 58. Also, 68 recoveries have been recorded, increasing the recoveries from 4,258 to 4,326.
read more: COVID-19: Cape Coast Emerging as Hotspot in the Central Region
Meanwhile, pressure group OccupyGhana, has alleged that figures from the Ghana Health Service on the Coronavirus could be massaged.
A statement issued by the group said government has not been honest in reporting accurate figures of the situation. The group believes there is an outbreak in the parliament house, however, “fact is being hidden and all we get are conflicting statements”.
“The case count is growing steadily by the day – about 200 to 300 new cases per day. At the last count, we had 7652 confirmed active cases even though that number could be higher (the total number of confirmed cases is 11,964.)
“There is cause to suspect that the death numbers are being massaged. The reported 54 deaths so far cannot be right. For instance, even though 38 deaths have been reported from the Ashanti Region alone, less than 20 of those deaths are included in the national count!”, the statement said.
OccupyGhana further cautioned that, following the recent infection among health workers, coupled with limited health facilities and delay in testing results, “Hospitals are getting overwhelmed with spill overs of designated areas for suspected and confirmed cases into emergency rooms and wards otherwise not assigned”.
The group also said, “If we are not careful, these schools could turn into hotspots for disease transmission and the students could become super-spreaders.”
According to OccupyGhana, although they acknowledge the guidelines and measures outlined by government towards the reopening of schools, there are a number of underlying factors that could worsen the situation.
“We do not think that the need to get the students to be physically present for exams is worth the risk of having the disease break out in our schools. We are not convinced that if students get sick in schools, there are adequate resources to test and treat them.
ATLFMNEWS
