Focus on Covid-19 active cases -GHS

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has urged Ghanaians to focus attention on the number of active cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, instead of the cumulative count, which do not reflect the present state of the situation.

According to him, various conversations have been centred on the seeming increasing cumulative positive case counts, with little or no mention of the current positives.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, who was briefing the media in Accra yesterday, asserted that largely, the country was seeing a deflation in the active cases, which now stands at 3,871.

At the time of filing this report, the total recoveries/discharge stood at 23,044, with 145 deaths. All these sum up to 27,060 confirmed cases.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye explained that the government would have to deal with the active cases as that becomes the threat, as far as the fight is concerned. He said: “We normally don’t focus on the cumulative positive count, because the majority of them have already recovered. But the more important indicator is the active cases. In Ghana today, the active case trend is declining, and this is very good news. Our target is to keep it declining.”

He continued: “What constitute the active cases? It is confirmed cases minus the recoveries and discharges, including the death. So, for all those who have become positive, we take out the number who have recovered or discharged and dead, and the rest is the active cases.

“That is what most countries depend on, because that is what it is going to be the case burden. That is the challenge you face, not the people who have recovered. In Ghana where the death rate is quite low, for example where we have about 0.654% death rate, it means that recoveries plays an active role in that because the recoveries too are high, which plays an active role in what we do.”

Explaining that the government was in a good position to handle the situation, he mentioned that out of the total active cases, 387 are in isolation, 299 at various treatment centres, with 3,372 being managed at home.

However, he added that there are 700 beds available at the various treatment centres across the country, and that should there be a need to admit more patients in treatment centres, preparations have been made.

For isolation, he mentioned that the Pentecost Convention Centre alone can accommodate about 600 patients, stressing that there was no cause for alarm. Other centres have been designated across the country for treatment and isolation.

Of all the active cases, Greater Accra contributes about 60%, but on the contrary, the region also makes up about 60% of the recoveries.

Meanwhile, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, used the opportunity to urge Ghanaians to continue to be responsible in adhering to the safety protocols.

He cautioned against people basing on the decline in active cases to behave recklessly, a development, he feared, may impact negative on the achieving success in the fight against the virus.

“We want you to caution the general public not to take solace in the improving results to be reckless… The risk is that if at any point in time people feel that the risk is gone and throw all cautions to the wind, these numbers will go up.

The Information Minister also announced that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had completed his 14-days self-isolation, and was set to begin out-of-home work from his Jubilee House office today.

It would be recalled that the President discharged his duties from the Presidential Villa while in isolation, making use of various technological communication methods.

Again, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who had earlier tested positive for the virus, has now tested negative.

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