At least 13 more persons have died of COVID-19 increasing Ghana’s death toll to 390, official figures on Thursday reveal.
According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), 625 new cases have also been confirmed taking the active case count to 3,940.
This brings Ghana’s official caseload to 63, 883 out of which 59, 553 have recovered and been discharged.
Airport cases
A total of 1,096 cases have been detected at the Kotoka International Airport since it was reopened September last year to human traffic. The GHS reports that 601 international passengers have since recovered.
At the moment, the country is reporting 98 and 35 severe and critical cases respectively but none is on a ventilator, according to the GHS.
Regional case breakdown
Greater Accra Region – 37,117
Ashanti Region – 11,895
Western Region – 3,392
Eastern Region – 2,779
Central Region – 2,245
Volta Region – 896
Bono East Region – 806
Western North Region – 695
Northern Region – 672
Bono Region – 654
Upper East Region – 577
Ahafo Region – 539
Oti Region – 246
Upper West Region – 186
Savannah Region – 63
North East Region – 25
Free test
The Ministry of Health has directed that all public COVID-19 testing laboratories providing walk-in services should charge only travellers for COVID-19 testing.
A statement issued and signed by Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, acting chief director of the Ministry of Health said all other walk-in requests such as ill health, contact tracing and exposure must be done free of charge using public health resources.
Arrest
At least 31 people have been arrested by the police in Damongo in the Savannah Region for not wearing face masks, the police have confirmed.
The suspected law breakers – 29 males and two females – were found flouting the mandatory wearing of face masks as directed by President Akufo-Addo in his latest address to the nation on COVID-19. The culprits were each made to buy a mask from the police after their arrest.
Speaking to the media after the arrests, the deputy Savannah regional police commander, DCOP Ebenezer Larbi, warned residents always to wear face masks, to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
He further said that the police will question the individuals who were arrested and will grant them bail after they have been cautioned.
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