The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe says the country’s fight against COVID-19 has been satisfactory, a year after its outbreak.
He said the fight has been satisfactory because, Ghana has depended on a structured and well-coordinated system in dealing with the pandemic making its fight a controlled one.
Speaking in an interview, Dr. Bekoe said although there has been challenges, the country is getting back on track. The Public Health Director said Ghana’s COVID Task Force has been working along key thematic areas and these have contributed to the country’s success story.
GHS Director On COVID-19 Fight
Also speaking on Ghana’s fight so far, a year after the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye, said the country has tried its best to mitigate the impact of the spread of the virus in the country.
The Director General attributed the fight so far to the sectors ability to respond and also efforts by the government and the public.
“There has been a lot of activities in between and I think our ability to respond, both from the side of government, from the people and also from other partners to ensure that we are able to weather the storm by preventing the importation of the cases, making sure that we are able to test treat and contain the virus.”
Patrick Kumah Aboagye
Moreover, he said his outfit was also making sure they had domestic capacity to treat and respond to the pandemic. He stated that, they realized that every country was finding ways. So, his outfit and the government also had to look within to see how the country could produce its own PPEs amongst others.
Beginning Of COVID And Measures Put In Place
Detailing the evolvement of the pandemic, Dr. Kuma Aboagye indicated that, the country since the beginning of the virus has had three surges. Notable among activities to mitigate the spread he averred are, contact tracing, testing and case management.
“The battle started somewhere in January, when the Yuhan one was discovered in 2019. So, we started our preparation and surveillance and on the 12th of March we found out that we had recorded our first two cases.
“It has since then been a matter of contact tracing, testing and case management. We went on to have a little surge more like a wave in June, July, August 2020. A massive wave with a large amount of cases across the country mostly in Accra and Kumasi. There was another surge in November 2020 and then the from December to the Beginning of the year.”
Patrick Kumah Aboagye
COVID-19 Case Update
According to an update by the GHS, at least nine more persons have died from the virus pushing Ghana’s death toll to 656.
The country’s active cases now stand at 4,728 after 272 new cases were confirmed. The report indicates that, the country’s total confirmed cases has increased to 86, 737 out of which 81, 299 have recovered.
So far, 66 persons are in severe condition while 25 remain critical, according to GHS. Cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport are 1,251 with 1,122 recoveries.
