The source said the deceased, a 55-year old man had an underlying health condition and died at the Margaret Marquart Hospital at Kpando.

The Region recorded its first COVID 19 death on Thursday, May 14 at the Ho treatment centre after the patient visited the Ho Teaching Hospital with difficulty in breathing, fever for three days and reduced level of consciousness.

The sexagenarian was also said to be battling an underlying health condition.

GNA was told “the patient was clinically managed in conformity with the established clinical protocols for the various disease conditions, psychosocial support given to the family of the confirmed case and all contacts and appropriate burial procedures currently underway.”

The source said 39 staff including ten doctors, 28 nurses and an orderly were immediately quarantined as a precautionary measure after varying levels of exposure while contact identification, listing, tracing and testing was ongoing.

It said the Emergency Unit of the Ho Teaching Hospital was evacuated and shut down for 24 hours for fumigation.

Meanwhile, 28 persons are said to have recovered from the Coronavirus disease out of 34 cases in the region as at May 16, 2020.