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Tag: Dr. Badu Sarkodie

  • Ghana’s daily infection rate slightly decreasing – Dr Badu Sarkodie

    Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Thursday said although the country’s daily rate of new COVID-19 infections are decreasing, the curve is not sharp enough.

    He said while some earlier hotspot areas such as Tema, Lower Manya and Obuasi districts have not recorded new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past week, three other hotspots have sprung up within the same period, pushing the infection curve slightly upward.

    He attributed this to the fact that people were still not adhering to the preventive etiquettes and safety protocols, and advised the public to be more responsible and supportive in their behavior towards the fight against the spread of the virus in their communities.

    Dr Sarkodie, who was giving Ghana’s situational update of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Minister’s press briefing in Accra, said official data by the GHS as at May 26, 2020 indicates that there has been 186 new infections from 31 districts in four regions since its last update on Tuesday, May 25.

    He said the country’s current test positivity rate is 3.56 per cent, with a cumulative total of 7,303 positive cases, 2,412 recoveries and 34 deaths.

    He said this leaves the total number of active cases at 4, 857 persons, who are being managed in treatment sites, isolation centres and other home management situations; and out of these 14 were severe, but not on ventilators and three were also critically ill.

    Giving details on the district update of the new cases recorded, he said, although in the Greater Accra Region 18 districts new cases, those with significant numbers were Ablekuma -47, Ayawaso East-36, Ayawaso North-11, Korle Klottey-13, and Okaikoi-six, with the remaining districts contributed about five cases or less each, while Tema metropolis also recorded four new cases.

    He explained that all of them were districts who had already recorded cases and were being managed by health authorities through the existing measures, including aggressive contact tracing, treatment, isolation and intensive public education on the hygiene and safety protocols among others.

    Dr Sarkodie said districts in the Eastern Region including the Akuapem North and South respectively recorded new cases, while in the Central Region, Cape Coast, Mfantseman, Abora Dunkwa and Upper Denkyira also had new record of infections.

    In the case of the Ashanti Region six districts recorded new cases and these were made up of the Kumasi Metropolis-four, Amansie West- one; Kwabre East- one; Effigya Kwabre South-one; Ejisu-one and Oforikrom-one, but Obuasi metro did not record any new cases.

    He said the three new hotspots involving Obuasi, Lower Manya Krobo and Tema districts which previously spiked the number of new infections did not record any cases this time, meaning the various measures including aggressive tracing, testing, isolating, and managing cases were working.

    Dr Sarkodie said ongoing actions included engagements with all stakeholders including religious organisations, Ministry of Education, Ghana Football Association and providing them with the technical support needed for to develop their own risk communication guidelines for education.

    Again, enhanced surveillance, contact tracing, testing and treatment were also ongoing.

    He appealed to all citizens to remain committed and disciplined in enforcing the various hygiene and safety protocols which included social distancing, wearing of face masks and regular handwashing with soap under running water, or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

    Source: GNA

  • Sliding scale in behaviour of the coronavirus – Dr Badu Sarkodie

    Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Tuesday said there is a sliding scale in the behaviour of the COVID-19 record of the country.

    He said records showed that children below ten years who got infected were able to clear the virus more rapidly, and that those between ages ten to 40 recovered much earlier.

    Dr Sarkodie, who was speaking at the Minister’s COVID-19 update press briefing in Accra, said although the country continued to record some new cases of COVID-19, the infection, hospitalisation, as well as death rate had slowed down compared to the previous recordings.

    The press briefing would provide the clarity needed on the dynamics of the virus to inform both the Government and stakeholders in their consultations towards the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions.

    He presented a chat, which showed that unlike records of other countries, the commonest symptoms of patients in Ghana were coughs, which formed close to 30 per cent of the cases recorded, with a fever rate of about 10 per cent.

    He said the infection had varied presentations starting in some cases from a mild mode to severe, resembling any acute respiratory infection, but most people in Ghana had within two weeks completed the viral shedding and had fully recovered.

    In extreme cases where hospitalisation was required, patients had recovered by the eighth week with children and pregnant women accounting for a small proportion with mild symptoms.

    On the mode of infection, Dr Sarkodie explained that the SARS-2 germ (COVID-19), was similar to those that caused other respiratory illnesses, which attacked the protein cell and penetrated the human body cells in an attempt to replicate itself.

    However, to build immunity to the novel Coronavirus, the body develops several counter cells, which rather leads to massive damages to cells of delicate body organs like the lungs, kidneys and heart.

    That, he said, often accounted for the critical symptoms of persistent cough, sneezing, high temperature, and difficulty in breathing in some patients, particularly the aged and those with critical diseases of these organs, leading to their functional failure.

    He said although all persons were susceptible to the novel Coronavirus, those with high Blood Pressure (BP or hypertension), diabetes and heart problems, were at a higher risk of becoming critically ill and even dying, because it was the same protein cells that helped regulate their BP.

    “This explains the term comorbidity as has been often used to describe deaths associated with COVID-19,” he said.

    Dr Sarkodie said in Ghana only about nine per cent of people who were infected with COVID-19 had developed symptoms but 91 per cent had been asymptomatic (without symptoms).

    He, however, stated that some of the risk factors of contracting the virus depended on how often one touched his or her eyes, nose or mouth with contaminated hands.

    He advised that the frequent cleansing of objects such as doorknobs and surfaces of tables while avoiding the sharing of items such as pens could greatly reduce the rate of infection.

    “This is why all must strictly adhere to the WHO safety and hygiene protocols, which includes physical distancing, regular handwashing with soap underwater for at least 20 seconds, or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and the wearing of nose masks are critical,” Dr Sarkodie said.

    Meanwhile, Ghana’s cumulative COVID-19 case count now stands at 6,964 as at May 26, 2020, with 2,097 recoveries and 32 deaths.

    Source: GNA

  • Ghana has no record of reinfection of coronavirus

    Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Tuesday said the country has not recorded any cases of reinfections of the COVID-19.

    He said although there had been some concerns raised about some Chinese health workers who had tested positive for the disease, pronounced as recovered by health experts, but later tested positive again, Ghana had no evidence of any such case.

    He said it was a fact that several Ghanaian health workers had been infected and were being taken good care of, but there was no evidence of reinfection among those who had recovered.

    Dr Sarkodie, at the Minister’s press briefing in Accra, indicated that a lot of work was being done to protect health workers, who were risking their lives to fight the pandemic.

    He said the country’s current recovery rate was slowly increasing, and the rate of infections slowing down as evidenced in the decreases in hospitalisation over the past week.

    Dr Sarkodie attributed the successes to the strict measures Ghana had implemented right from the beginning of the outbreak.

    He said the measures led to the massive containment of the virus, stopping its devastating impact as witnessed in other countries, saying those efforts had since been sustained to halt community spread.

    He noted that the fact that the virus was no respecter of persons and thrived on infected surfaces for several hours, there was the need for sustained regular cleansing of those surfaces.

    Dr Sarkodie said that called for the need to strictly adhere to the preventive measures, which included the regular cleansing of items such as telephones, door handles, pens, table surfaces and washrooms.

    He stated that apart from the regular office space, factories and other informal workplaces, the health facility setting was one key risk area for picking up infections and people must be extra careful in their visit to such places.

    Dr Sarkodie, however, said there was currently no evidence or demonstration of healthcare workers being responsible for spreading COVID-19 in their communities.

    “These health professionals have been professionally trained to be able to handle or contain the virus and other infections and keep them at bay, so they do not spread to other people.”

    He said Ghana had also put in place other stringent mechanisms to ensure that places such as the prisons could prevent infections and had quarantine centres to hold infected persons should there be any positive cases, since the impact could be massive.

    Meanwhile, Ghana has recorded 7,117 positive cases of COVID-19 as at May 26, 2020, with 2,317 recoveries and 34 deaths.

    Source: GNA

  • Coronavirus: Protect relatives – GHS

    Dr Badu Sarkodie, the Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service has advised the public to protect their relatives at home and everyone they encounter by distancing themselves.

    He said as many people were not tested, some people could have the virus without showing symptoms, therefore, it was important that people especially those who move regularly outside the house, stayed away from their relatives at home.

    “Distance yourselves so that if you have the virus, you do not go to pass it on to your mother, father, or grandmother at home,” he stated.

    Dr Sarkodie gave the advice at a Press Briefing organised by the Information Ministry in Accra to update journalists and the public on the current state of the COVID-19 in Ghana and measures put in place to manage it.

    Keep used face masks away from others especially from the reach of children, Dr Sarkodie stated.

    Professor William Kwabena Ampofo, Head of the Virology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, said one measure that slowed down the rate at which the virus was spreading in Ghana was the enhanced contact tracing.

    He explained that it included; many people who did not show any symptoms, adding that, those who tested positive were isolated at the initial stage. Another measure was the usage of data collected on the date samples and tested for the COVID-19 and date patients started having symptoms.

    Prof. Amofo said Ghana was on top and was likely to have a decline in its number of confirmed cases if her citizens observed the social distancing protocol as well as the individual preventive measures like wearing of face masks, hand washing, and the coughing and sneezing etiquette.

    He said the country was not having an overstretched or overwhelmed health system, explaining that, that was only determined by the number of people who tested positive, those who visited the hospital and the number of deaths recorded.

    Source: GNA