Speaking at a bi-weekly press briefing on the national COVID-19 update in Accra yesterday, he said research had shown that most infected persons without underlying health conditions recovered after three weeks if health care and medication were administered on time.

That, Dr Aboagye explained, accounted for the many spontaneous recoveries recently.

Update

Providing an update on the national situation, the Director-General said 5,918 cases had been confirmed, with 1,754 recoveries while 31 patients with underlying health conditions had died.

Dr Aboagye said five patients were critically ill while the remaining patients were well and responding to treatment.

He said 183 new cases were recorded between May 16 and May 17, 2020.

“The Greater Accra Region remains the epicentre of the disease, accounting for 4,422 of the total case count while Ashanti Region follows with 881 cases,” he said.

Observing protocols

The Head of Disease Surveillance at the GHS, Dr Franklyn Asiedu Bekoe, said investigations into the Obuasi and Tema case hikes had proven that preventive protocols, such as social distancing and wearing of face masks, were not adhered to.

Other factors included the lack of treatment and isolation centres at Obuasi despite it being a densely populated area.

Consequently, he said, efforts were being made by the government to provide those centres with the facilities.

Mass transmission

As part of measures to break mass transmission of the virus, the Director-General said the government had begun a mass voluntary testing of high risk populations, such as taxi drivers and food vendors.

Dr Bekoe said enhanced contact tracing had also started in high risk communities in Obuasi and its environs.

“We are going to carry out enhanced contact tracing in the very high-risk areas. Obuasi has very densely populated areas like the central market, Anyinam and Wawaso. That is a way of trying to address surveillance and contact management in Obuasi,” he said.

According to Dr Bekoe, 72 per cent of all cases recorded in the area occurred within four days — April 21 to April 25, 2020.

A trader, who has since been identified, is said to have infected 17 people.

“Obuasi is one area where population density is high. Although AngloGold Ashanti has a prominent hospital, they did not have a treatment facility. Many people do not also wear face mask, neither do they have a holding facility,” he said.

Tema situation

On the situation in Tema, Dr Bekoe said an additional 162 staff at a fish-processing factory in the industrial town tested positive for the coronavirus disease, bringing the total number of infections at the facility to 695, from a total of 1,300 tested.

And out of the 695 who were infected at the factory, 624 representing 95 per cent had since tested negative for their first test after treatment and were awaiting their second test results to be declared fully recovered.

Dr Bekoe said investigations showed that social distancing was not observed at various areas at the factory, such as the canteen and in the staff bus.

He said the lack of a hand cleaning facility close to its biometric clock-in devices was also identified as a factor in the spread of the disease.