The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has recorded 126 new cases of COVID-19 as at Monday, January 11, 2021, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 56,230.
The health service in its case management update said the active cases had now increased to1,261, with recorded deaths now 338.
Clinical recovery from the infection has however increased to 54,631. Out of the total number of active cases, 44 patients are in severe condition while four others are in critical condition.
Director of Public Health of the GHS, Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, said the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases can be attributed to the increasing number of imported cases through the reopening of the country’s airports to travelers and celebrations during the festive season.
“Quite a number of our cases were imported cases. We opened our airports and the data over the period, in the first month, we had 47 cases. Then we recorded 98 cases, moved on to 126 and now we have over 300 cases.
“Before the Xmas, we had a press briefing and encouraged Ghanaians that although Xmas is a time of togetherness, but in the era of COVID-19 it needs to be in moderation. So clearly, we are thinking that the celebration was a factor,” he said in an interview on local radio station.
He also indicated that although some cases are being recorded at work places, it was insignificant compared to the other factors.
The country undertakes 1,200 to 1,800 COVID-19 tests daily across 10 private testing labs and still undertakes contact tracing despite several challenges it presently faces.
“When we expanded our testing capacity, there was a challenge of linkage cases to care systems. There are different objectives for the public and private sector.
“For a private lab, their interest is to get the test done. This one [contact tracing] is seen as an added activity but we are trying to engage other labs that you need to link a confirmed case to a health system,” Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe said.
Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe stated that the authorities will schedule a meeting during the week with the private labs to resolve all current challenges.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri