Ghana COVID-19 confirmed cases rise to 27 with two deaths

It’s been 11 days since Ghana confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19 in the country, all of them imported. As at today March 23, 2020, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 27, with two deaths, the Ghana Health Service has announced. And some of them are community infections, with some of the patients having no travel history nor contact with someone who has travelled.

The coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the world has infected more than 370,000 people, with more than 16,300 dead and over 100,000 patients recovered.

In response to the virus, countries like the United Kingdom and Italy, the country in Europe hard hit by the virus are in total lockdown. Other countries including Ghana, are in partial lockdown, while South Africa announced Monday that it will go into total lockdown on Thursday.

All of Ghana’s borders, land, sea and air have been shut. Visitors arriving in Ghana since the border closures were announced are in quarantine for 14 days. All education institutions have also been shut.

There is a race against time by some laboratories and pharmaceutical companies to find vaccines and possibly a cure.

Until that happens, the methods devised to avoid getting infected are social distancing, improvement of hygiene such as frequent proper hand-washing, and not touching the face, among others.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi