General News of Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Coronavirus: Regional breakdown of 195 cases

Efforts are being put in by government and various stakeholders to ensure the pandemic is contained Efforts are being put in by government and various stakeholders to ensure the pandemic is contained

Coronavirus cases in Ghana have now jumped to 195, the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has announced.

106 of the cases are from routine surveillance while cases from those on mandatory quarantine remain 89.

Majority of the cases are in the Greater Accra Region with 174. The Northern region has 10 cases while the Ashanti Region which is currently on lockdown has recorded 9 cases.

The Upper West Region and the Eastern have both recorded one case each.

According to the Health Minister, 38 people have recovered and discharged while another 49 are receiving treatment from home. Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana still stands at five.

Globally over 860, 000 people have been infected with the deadly virus while over 42, 000 people have died with Italy recording the highest number of deaths.

Meanwhile, over 178, 000 have recovered globally from the disease. The USA has the highest number of infections with 188,592 cases followed by Italy 105,792 cases and Spain 95,923.

Ghana has so far conducted 4560 tests of coronavirus since a case was registered in the country, the Ghana Health Service has announced.

The leading test centre in the country, the Noguchi Memorial Institute has so far conducted 4225 tests while the Kumasi Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) has undertaken 335 tests, Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director in charge of Disease Surveillance and control at the GHS told the media Wednesday.

Ghana is treating its coronavirus cases with hydroxychloroquine, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu has said.



As a result, he said, he has directed the Food and Drugs Authority to allow the importation of active ingredients for the manufacturing of hydroxychloroquine to augment the stock of government.

“Our laws give the health minister the power to ask the FDA to allow the importation and use of drugs that are not on our drug list. So, that order has been made and the FDA has now granted the approval for some pharmaceutical companies to bring in the active ingredients to manufacture the drug to augment what government has,” he told the media at a press briefing in Accra Wednesday.