A Virologist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR), Dr Augustina Sylverken is calling for a tailored risk assessment of guidelines of the coronavirus protocols for Ghana.
The World Health Organisation recently introduced new evidence which states that, after 10 to 14 days, a person with no symptoms is unlikely to transmit the virus to others even if the person continues to test positive.
The first protocol by the WHO however required two consecutive negative results before one is declared recovered.
In an interview on the Atlantic Wave on Tuesday, Dr Sylverken believes despite the recommendations and guidelines by the WHO which are built on studies around the world, Ghana should not run along with it wholeheartedly without making extended efforts based on local studies.
“For me as a country, I think we need to tread cautiously, we need to generate local context data. Now, these people that we have released, indeed we could have even conducted a very unique study and then based on the results of the study, we would have said that, because we found a,b,c and d within this population, we want to revise the WHO protocols so it suits our local context.”
Read also: COVID-19: Ghana’s death toll now 95 with 414 new cases recorded
She noted that without a locally based study, one cannot tell if patients discharged under the revised WHO protocols could be “sharing an infectious virus or remnants/debris of the virus”.
Dr Sylverken also believes the Ghana Health Service must be circumspect with the information it gives to the public. She asked for disaggregation of data to show those who are symptomatic and those who are asymptomatic.
“So, for example, today if we have 500 cases of asymptomatic, then you know that at least in an about 14 days you will find about 500 people who have recovered. I have an issue with the way the recoveries/discharge information has been captured on the website; I think it should be de-isolation instead.”
Dr Augustina Slyverken, therefore, suggested some adjustments be made on the website such as segregating the numbers exactly how they should be.
Ghana’s case count currently stands at 14, 568, 10, 907 recoveries/Discharge with 95 deaths. There are 3, 566 active cases now in the country.
ABA AIKINS APPAH/ATLFMNEWS
