Coronavirus: Ghana Medical Association says Infections in Ghana alarming
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana Thursday recorded 175 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases to take the number of active cases to 1,404, an official source said here.
A statement issued by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) put the total cumulative case count as of 11 January at 56,982 with 55,236 recoveries.
The total number of deaths also increased to 341 from 338 after three more people succumbed to the deadly virus.
The GMA described the rate of COVID-19 infections in Ghana as “alarming and dire”, and stressed the need for increased public awareness campaign and strict adherence to prevention protocols to cut further spread of the pandemic in the country.
“This increasing case count can directly be attributed to the total disregard for and the lack of enforcement of all relevant COVID-19 preventive protocols throughout the country and to the importation of cases from other countries via travellers arriving at the points of entry.
“The COVID-19 situation in the country is alarming and dire at this particular moment. The risk of potential exponential rise in the number of cases cannot be discounted,” it stated.
It noted that the various major health facilities, especially in the Accra Metropolis, involved in the management of moderate, severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients were overstretched.
The association suggested that testing should be made free or relatively cheaper for Ghanaians.
“The GMA calls for an urgent scale-up of COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing for all positive cases as well as strict isolation and management of all infected persons to help break the chain of transmission.
“Additionally, COVID-19 testing should be made free or relatively cheaper for the ordinary Ghanaian who needs testing as a result of direct exposure or when symptomatic for COVID-19,” the GMA said.
Furthermore, the association said there should be free mass testing in all identified COVID-19 hot spots to address the “current shortfalls in our testing and contact tracing regimes”.
-0- PANA RA 14Jan2021.
