Data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) says only 18 percent of the active 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.
At today’s [Tuesday, July 21, 2020] weekly press briefing at the Ministry of Information, the Director-General of the Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye indicated that the symptomatic persons are also receiving treatment from isolation centres 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 percent 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 centres and at home, we have 26 in severe 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”.
Explaining the reasons for the decline in active cases, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye 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.
“The active cases show a decline of about 12. 2 percent of the total cases that have been recorded. The recoveries continue to decrease edging closer to the cumulative total. That is what is driving the active cases down. The active cases are the burden the nation has to deal with today. That ratio between the active cases and the total cases continues to widen. This is so because of the things we are doing, if we stop, the cases will go up again.”
General case count
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.
“As of yesterday when we concluded our collation of the results we had 3,505 active cases, this represents 12.2 percent of all the cases ever reported. Our recoveries stand at accounting for about 84.7 percent of all cases reported. This gives us a cumulative figure from the 12th of March since we recorded our first case. We have recorded 153 deaths which accounts for 0.53 percent of cases.”, he said.
So far 353,752 tests have been conducted in Ghana since the country recorded its first two cases in March 2020.
As of July 21, 2020, a total of 23,000 backlog samples of COVID-19 samples are yet to be tested.