Dr. Badu Sarkodie
Ghana has recorded four more cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections three days after the first two confirmed cases had been reported.
Confirming the new cases at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said all the four new cases involved Ghanaians who had returned to the country from places that had recorded an outbreak of COVID-19.
The Director, Public Health Division, GHS, Dr. Badu Sarkodie, addressing the media, said all the cases were asymptomatic at the time of their arrival in the country.
COVID-19 Cases
Giving a chronological account of the confirmed cases, Dr. Sarkodie said the first two confirmed cases recorded on March 12, 2020 involved a 60-year-old Norwegian and a Ghanaian national.
He said investigations showed that both male travellers, who later tested positive for COVID-19 after reporting to different health facilities in the country with acute respiratory illnesses, had been to areas where COVID-19 cases had been confirmed.
“Both index cases returned to Ghana from outside the country; one from Turkey, the other from Norway. Hence, the two cases were both imported,” Dr. Sarkodie added.
He said the COVID-19 patients were currently being treated under isolation conditions and they were stable.
Dr. Sarkodie noted that on March 13, 2020, two more cases of COVID-19 infections from the Ashanti and the Greater Accra regions were confirmed.
The first of the four new cases involved a 56-year-old Ghanaian, who returned from a trip to the United Kingdom (UK) on March 4, 2020.
The COVID-19 patient is said to have stayed for 10 days in the UK before returning to the country.
“He developed symptoms on March 12, 2020, and reported to a hospital in Obuasi and met the case definition for COVID-19, so samples were taken to the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research and it tested positive,” Dr. Sarkodie stated.
According to him, the second case from the Greater Accra Region involved a female Ghanaian student from the University of Ghana, Legon, who had travelled to the United States of America.
She is believed to have stayed for almost two weeks before returning on March 9, 2020 and started developing symptoms on March 13, 2020. Dr. Sarkodie said samples taken to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) tested positive for COVID-19.
“Both are currently receiving treatment under isolation conditions; both are stable,” he said.
The GHS again received reports of additional two confirmed cases from NMIMR on March 14, 2020. The third case is a 42-year-old Ghanaian man who returned to Ghana on March 8, 2020.
He is said to have travelled to Switzerland and UK in the past 14 days before returning to the country. Dr. Sarkodie said symptoms started on March 9, 2020 and reported to a health facility on March 14, 2020, after which tests at NMIMR proved positive for COVID-19.
The fourth case is a 41-year-old Ghanaian male who reported to the Tema General Hospital with fever and acute respiratory illness on March 10, 2020. This patient, who is said to have travelled to Germany and Turkey in the past 14 days, also tested positive for COVID-19.
“Both cases did not have symptoms on arrival; both are undergoing treatment and are stable. This brings to a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana with no death recorded. This is the situation as of the close of March 14, 2020,” he explained.
Contact Tracing
Dr. Sarkodie said contact tracing had started for all the confirmed cases. He said 32 contacts had been identified for the first case while 107 contacts had been identified in the case involving the Norwegian national.
He said 12 contacts had been identified in the cases involving the Ghanaian student while 30 cases had been identified in the case from the Ashanti Region. “As regards the last two, we will be in touch to start the contact tracing,” he added.
Travel Advisory
The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, issuing a government advisory following the announcement by the GHS strongly discouraged all travels to Ghana until further notice.
“Any traveller, except for Ghanaian citizens and persons with Ghana residence permit who within the past 14 days has been to a country that has recorded at least 200 cases of COVID-19, will not be admitted into the Ghanaian jurisdiction. Airlines are instructed not to allow such persons embark. Border posts are instructed not to allow such persons into the jurisdiction,” he added.
He said a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for persons who are otherwise allowed to enter the Ghanaian jurisdiction will take effect from 1pm on March 17, 2020.
“Enforcement protocols are being deployed in collaboration with the state security and health authorities. Persons determine to be unable to satisfactorily self-quarantine will be quarantined by the state.
“Any admissible traveller who exhibits symptoms of COVID-19 will be quarantined and tested upon reaching Ghana while guidelines for self-quarantine will be available at the various Ghanaian ports of entry,” the Information Minister added.
Preventive measures
The public have been asked to practise good personal hygiene to keep themselves and their families healthy. The President urged that the usual handshake we are used to should be suspended for now.
He advised Ghanaians to refrain from further shaking hands until after a cure is found to the virus which has so far become an albatross around the neck of the world with no known cure in sight.
He also admonished Ghanaians to stop shaking hands completely, and cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
To prevent the spread, the standard recommendations coming from the WHO is regular hand washing, covering one’s mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.
People are also advised to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
Institutional Measures
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed schools to suspend all public activities like speech and prize-giving day until further directives are given by the Director General. It has also distributed educational materials on COVID-19 to regional and district educational directorate for onward distribution to various schools.
The University of Ghana, Legon, has also banned non-residential students from coming to campus until further notice.
Management of the University, after confirming a case involving a student, also directed that the university basic schools and the Baby Nest Creche on Legon campus should be “closed down until further notice”.
The statement, however, noted that the university is not being closed down “until contact tracing has been effectively completed. Students and staff who reside on campuses of the university are, therefore, urged to remain on the campuses. Those who may have the infection and leave campus are likely to spread the virus”.
The University of Ghana Emergency Response Team (UGERT), according to the statement, has also linked up with the national contact tracing team.
“Social gatherings, religious services and sporting activities on the university campuses have already been suspended and the suspension will continue to be in force,” the statement added.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, said all students and members of the school community must remain calm as it is collaborating with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the situation is contained.
The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has issued a directive to their members not to hesitate to leave isolation units if they are not supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE) by the government.
The association also urged the health workers to be mindful of their personal safety following the confirmation of six cases of the COVID-19 in the country.
The association in a release on Friday, March 13, 2020 said health officials must ensure that protective gears are made available to the nurses and midwives who will be on the frontline working in isolation units in the four designated treatment centres for coronavirus in Ghana.
“Nursing and midwifery managers must ensure that PPE are available for use by all nurses and midwives working in the isolation units in the four designated treatment centres. In the event of unavailability of these logistics at the isolation centres, we strongly advise our nurses and midwives to protect their lives by removing themselves from that environment,” the statement said.
While urging nurses and midwives to carry out their jobs professionally without panic, the association said the public must remain calm and follow preventive guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Health.
“We assure our stakeholders that the GRNMA is committed to supporting the national coordinated efforts to identify, manage, contain and prevent the spread of the virus,” the release said.
Cases
There have been over 160,000 cases worldwide with 6,085 deaths. So far, 15 African countries have recorded 147 cases with four deaths.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri