Management of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has restrategized to now prioritize testing of symptomatic COVID-19 persons.
This according to the service is aimed at reducing the backlog of testing samples.
Other groups of persons to be given priority for testing are contacts of those who have tested positive, exposed health workers, students, Ghanaian returnees and suspected dead persons.
A total of 23,000 samples are yet to be tested as of today, Tuesday, July 21, 2020.
Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye at a press conference on Tuesday noted the new strategy is aimed at preventing a pile-up of samples of persons with symptoms of the disease.
“We are currently going to focus on symptomatic patients; i.e. those who are sick of suspected cases of COVID-19. They will be given priority. We will also focus on the contacts of the confirmed cases. We will prioritize the contacts of anybody who is positive. Thirdly, exposed health workers and students will be given priority in our tests. Returnees will also be given priority so that we ensure that they are safe when they arrive before they are discharged.”
“In all these, we only make special cases among the backlog; for example, if somebody has died and we are not too sure if it’s COVID-19 or not, for proper handling we need to go back and ensure that those samples are identified and tested”, he added.
18 percent of active cases symptomatic
Data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) says only 18 percent of the active cases of COVID-19 cases in the country are symptomatic.
The remaining 82 percent of the 3,505 active cases as of Tuesday, July 21, 2020, are asymptomatic and are being managed at homes.
The symptomatic persons are also receiving treatment from isolation centers across the country.
Out of the 18 percent who are symptomatic, 26 are in severe conditions, eight in critical conditions while the four others are on ventilators.
“For the 3, 505 active cases we have today, only 18 persons are symptomatic. The rest are asymptomatic, that is what is reflected in the last number that is being managed at home. Of the 18 percent, who are being managed at treatment centers and at home, we have 26 in sever condition, eight are in critical condition and four are currently on ventilators. This means 82 percent of the active cases are asymptomatic, which means our greatest challenge is on the18 percent of the active cases”, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said.
Explaining the reasons for the decline in active cases, he attributed it to robust measures put in place by authorities to manage the country’s cases warning that the trend could reverse if things are left off guard.
Meanwhile, Ghana has recorded 559 new Coronavirus infections pushing the national tally to 28,989.
The new cases were confirmed in 36 districts across eight regions.
Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye who gave the latest update said 25,331 persons have been discharged/recovered.
This leaves the country’s active cases at 3,505 with 153 individuals succumbing to the disease.
So far 353,752 tests have been conducted in Ghana since the country recorded its first two cases in March 2020.