The Ghana Health Service (GHS) yesterday announced eight new COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the death toll to 424 since the pandemic started last year.
GHS Director General Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said at a media briefing in Accra that the health authorities recorded 772 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the country’s active case count to 5,515.
Ghana, since the outbreak of the pandemic has recorded a total of 67,782 infections and 61,843 recoveries.
The Director General said currently, 119 and 41 patients were in severe and critical conditions respectively at the various hospitals.
Since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, the authorities have conducted a total of 783,432 tests.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said the survey conducted by the GHS had suggested an increase in the wearing of nose masks from 10% to 42% in January 2021.
He said the data showed that 36% of people had face masks but were wearing them inappropriately while 22% of people were found not in face masks at all.
“We did one on January 29, 2021. We did assess the mandatory wearing of masks in the Greater Accra Region, which is the epicentre in Ghana… The good news is that about 42% of people are now wearing masks appropriately, 22% were not wearing masks at all and 36% were not wearing it correctly. So if I add, we are looking at almost 80% having the intention to wear and that is a good sign. So we are seeing an upsurge in the use of face masks, and we hope that it will continue,” he said.
Schools Cases
According to the Director General, there have been 20 positive cases of COVID-19 recorded cumulatively in some schools in the Greater Accra Region, and contact tracing has commenced in earnest to curb the spread in the schools.
“We still have limited outbreak in schools across the country. We have had some cases in Upper West, Western and Greater Accra. Greater Accra, has cumulatively reported about 20 cases in a couple of schools and the contact tracing and isolation are currently ongoing,” he added.