Fifteen of the 19 people who developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus after coming in contact with persons affected by the deadly virus have tested negative, the Ghana Health Service has announced.
Test results of the four others are expected in the coming days.
“We have received results for 15 of them which are all negative for COVID-19 and we are awaiting results for four (4) of them,” GHS posted on its website Thursday morning.
It revealed that a total of 399 contacts have been identified through contact tracing as at 9:53 a.m. on Thursday, March 19.
Ghana has since March 12 when the first two coronavirus cases were confirmed, recorded seven more to bring the total number of cases to nine as of Thursday morning.
“Currently, there is no death and all the nine (9) confirmed COVID-19 cases are being managed in isolation and are responding well to treatment,” the GHS said.
The last two cases announced Thursday morning were confirmed by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Researchon March 18.
Both were imported cases, health officials said.
It involved a 56-year-old Ghanaian man who travelled back to Accra from a trip to UK about a week ago.
The other is a 33-year-old Ghanaian, who returned to Accra from a conference in United Arab Emirates.
“Both cases are receiving treatment in isolation,” health officials said.
Global crisis
Some 220,000 confirmed cases of the covid-19 pandemic have been recorded globally with over 8,800 deaths.
Although Africa is the least affected continent with some 16 deaths, the World Health Organisation is warning Africans to prepare for the worst.
It said strained public health systems could become quickly overwhelmed as is the case in some parts of Asia and Europe where some countries have been placed on lockdown as a result of rising number of new cases.
But Ghana has taken a series of measures including a ban on social gatherings for the next four weeks, closure of schools and a ban on non-citizens from countries worst hit by the global pandemic from entering the country.
By 3news.com|Ghana