North East Region has become the latest region to confirm a case of COVID-19 in Ghana.
It is the eighth region out of Ghana’s 16 regions to report a case.
The case was detected in Walewale as a result of the ongoing enhanced surveillance and contact-tracing exercise.
The infected person has however died.
The Municipal Chief Executive of West Mamprusi Municipality, Arimeyaw Somo Lucky said that the patient, who had asthma died while his sample was being tested at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR).
“We had a suspected case that was sent to Kumasi five days ago. The person was already an asthmatic patient for the past five years, when he reported to the hospital, they saw some of the symptoms of COVID-19 and then he was isolated. Unfortunately, he passed on two hours later after his admission. The test was sent to Kumasi, it delayed but the result came back last night. I was briefed this morning by the Regional Health Director that the result was positive,” he said.
He said the family of the deceased have been quarantined as efforts are being done to quarantine the other contacts who will be traced.
“We invited the family and we have now started the contact tracing and possible quarantine of all those who are involved. That is what we are doing now,” he added.
Medical officers quarantined
All the medical officers who attended to the patient before his demise are currently self-quarantining.
The emergency unit of the hospital has also been closed down and will be disinfected later.
No travel history
“To travel outside the region, no he doesn’t have that history,” Arimeyaw Somo Lucky said.
The deceased prior to his death only travelled to the Yabaga Kubori area.
Meanwhile, he has urged for calm among residents of the region indicating that “everything is under control.”
