Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku and Deputy Health Minister, Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye says Ghanaians should not despair in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ghana was struck by the novel disease in March this year when the country recorded two COVID-19 cases and a few months after, the nation's case count has exceeded 26,000 amidst alarming predictions that more people will likely be infected by the virus as the year goes by.

To opposition parties, these figures have cast Ghana into a state of despondency. 

But, according to the Deputy Health Minister, the situation is not as gloomy as it appears.

According to him, the nation's COVID-19 recovery rate is at 85 per cent.

He opined that the recovering figures are a signal of hope, therefore calling on Ghanaians to lift up their heads believing the country will overcome the disease.

"If by the grace of God, 85% of cases have recovered and with the school children, if seven kids were positive and they've joined their kids in school; it's a sign of hope. It's a sign of victory that we're on course... when you get a sign of victory, it doesn't mean you're victorious.

In fact, it is only to motivate you... when you take the recovery, the fact that by God's grace now we're getting used to the mask... that change in behaviour is one of the signs of hope that people are coming home to know there is a virus that is in the population.

And lastly, the biggest sign of hope is those who have met the virus, confronted it, fought it and won the war," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo'.

The case count of the novel coronavirus in Ghana has shot up to 26,572 as the country has recorded 447 new cases.

The Ghana Health Service explains that these new cases are samples that were taken from the period 13 June to 13 July 2020 but reported from the lab on July 14.

According to the Ghana Health Service, 22,915 persons have recovered/discharged.

However, five more people have died of Covid-19 bringing the death toll to 144 and the country’s number of active cases stands at 3,515.