COVID-19: 14 of 7,461 samples positive – Oppong Nkrumah

Fourteen out of 7,461 test results that have come in so far as a result of the enhanced contact-tracing and testing measures, have tested positive, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed.

The seven thousand four hundred and sixty-one are among the 15,384 people that have been contact-traced and tested so far.

The fourteen confirmed cases represent 0.18 per cent of the seven thousand four hundred and sixty-one cases whose results are out so far.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Sunday said the COVID-19 test results of the 15,384 people, which are being released this week, will determine the government’s next line of action with regard to the current lockdown measures being implemented to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Nana Akufo-Addo announced a two-week lockdown on 27 March as part of measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

A week into the lockdown, some vulnerable groups are calling for it to end while a section of Ghanaians also insist the lockdown should be extended.

But in a televised address to the nation on Sunday, 5 April 2020, Nana Akufo-Addo said: “We are about to enter into a critical phase of our fight in the coming weeks as the Ghana Health Service is due to receive the results of some 15,384 out of 19,276 persons who have been reached through contact tracing. It is the results of these tests that will determine our future course of action. Government’s policies and measures will continue to be driven by the science in this matter…

“So, in the course of the coming week, a determination will be made as to whether or not to extend the duration of the two-week restriction on movement, and the implementation or otherwise of any more enhanced measures to deal with the virus.”

As of 6 April 2020, Ghana had recorded two hundred and eighty-seven cases with five deaths.