Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) seems unhappy with critics who are suggesting that COVID-19 figures are 'cooked'

Background

Special aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mogtari recently questioned the number of recoveries published by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

During the weekend, the GHS released its latest figures on the disease and it showed a total of 1,754 COVID-19 patients recovering from the disease in Ghana.

Although some have expressed relief over the development, others have expressed skepticism about it. This has generated debate, especially on social media.

Overnight Recoveries?

In a tweet, she wondered how 790 COVID-19 patients recovered overnight in an update which indicated that Ghana had recorded 5,638 with 28 deaths.

“How the hell did 790 more people recover overnight!!...We need to put these numbers to strict proof!!” She tweeted.

Currently, the country's Coronavirus case count has shot up to 5,918 from 5,735 on Tuesday morning.

3 Weeks Recovery Rate

Hours after the tweet, the GHS responded by dismissing suggestions of 'cooked' figures.

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye speaking at a press briefing, Tuesday May 19, 2020 said; “When it comes to recoveries as I’ve been saying when someone is ill, if you do not die…at the end of the disease, within three weeks you’ll recover and I’m sure some of us have the experience…so from the beginning when we had one, two, three, we were not expecting major recoveries in the first one month of which they’ll come but as you have more cases, through data, you should expect more cases recovering. That’s why we’re having an exponential increase in the number of cases.”

Critics Should Get Infected

Commenting on the issue on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo' Tuesday, the Ashanti Regional NPP Secretary quizzed; "Cooked figures? Why do we do this to ourselves...The best option is to ask questions but to accuse authorities of massaging the numbers…what is your intention for everyone to get infected? Sometimes I wish such critics will get infected to see if the figures are real or not."