Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has disclosed to journalists that her husband is currently in self-isolation after he returned from the United Kingdom, one of the badly hit coronavirus countries.

Mrs Owusu Ekuful revealed that her husband is in a room in their house and is not having contact with anyone in the house.

“They leave his food at the door. If we want to talk to him, we stand at a safe distance away and talk to him, we wave him, he’s okay”, she stated further.

The minister said the decision to have the husband self-isolate is to ensure that they follow the protocols involved in preventing any spread.

According to her, the husband may have come into contact with affected persons considering the job he does and to stay on the safer side, they have allowed him to self-quarantine.

Update from GHS

On 19 March 2020, we received notification from KCCR indicating two (2) newly confirmed cases in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

The first is a 59-year-old Ghanaian woman, resident in the United Kingdom who recently returned to Ghana and currently living in Kumasi, reported to a private hospital with the history of fever (temp of 39.1 ? ), general malaise, cough and runny nose. Her condition was suspected to be COVID-19. Sample was subsequently collected and sent to KCCR and the report was received this early morning as positive for COVID-19.

The second case is a 61-year-old Lebanese male trader and resident in Kumasi. He felt unwell and reported to a health facility with fever (temp 39.4 ? ), and cough. The sample tested positive for COVID-19.

Both patients are being managed in isolation and responding to treatment.

So far the confirmed cases in Ghana are from Turkey, Norway, Germany, France, United States of America, United Kingdom (UK) and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With regards to contact tracing, a total of 399 contacts have been identified and are being followed up. Nineteen (19) of the contacts developed some forms of symptoms and samples were taken for laboratory testing.

We have received laboratory results for 15 of them which are all negative for COVID-19 and we are awaiting results for the four (4) others. Contact identification and tracking for the newly confirmed cases have just started.