Ghana has recorded four more cases of the new coronavirus which bring the number of cases to total of six cases in the oil-rich West African country.
The new cases was announced by Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie during a press briefing on the current status of the country at the Information Ministry on Sunday.
Explaining, he said, two more cases, after Thursday’s ones, were confirmed on Friday March 15, 2020. One from the Ashanti Region and the other from the Greater Accra Region.
“The first is a 56-year-old Ghanaian who returned from a trip in the United Kingdom (UK) on the 4th of March. He stayed in the UK for 10 days. He developed symptoms on the 12th of March and reported to a health facility in Obuasi.” Dr. Sarkodie told press in Accra.
Samples were taken from him and taken to the Kumasi Center for collaborative Research and the results was positive.
He pointed out that the second, is a woman, and a student. She travelled to the United States of America, stayed there for about 10 days and returned to Ghana on the 10th of March.
On the 13th of March, she started showing symptoms that later were confirmed to be compatible with the suspected case of COVID-19.
Samples were taken to Noguchi Memorial Medical Research Institute and emerged positive.
According to Dr. Sarkodie, the fifth and sixth cases were recorded on Saturday, late in the afternoon, from the Noguchi Memorial Medical Research.
According to him, the first is a 42-year-old Ghanaian male who returned to Ghana on the 8th of March. He had travelled to Switzerland and UK in the past 14 days.
Symptoms started on the 9th of March and he reported to the health facility on the 14 March. After samples were tested, it was confirmed positive.
The second case in this batch was a 41-year-old Ghanaian male. He reported to the Tema General Hospital on the 14th of March with fever and acute respiratory illness. He had travelled to Turkey and Germany within the past 14 days. Results from Noguchi came back positive.
Both cases had no symptoms on arrival.
Dr. Sarkodie, has however assured that all four cases are stable and under observation. They are receiving treatment under isolation conditions.
“This brings to a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana, there are no deaths and this is the situation as at March 14, 2020. All the 6 cases were imported into Ghana” He added.
Meanwhile, the intensity of the spread of the virus has forced United Nations, Netherlands High Commission and Norway Embassy to close down their offices to curtail the spread of the virus. The UN and the IMF have asked its staff in Ghana to stay at home and work because their staff are noted of travelling in and out of the country.
DAP/abj/APA