The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the coronavirus case in the country has increased to 1,042.
This comes after 208 new cases were recorded from various parts of the country.
Speaking in a televised address today in Accra, the President stated that the number of positive case was mainly due to the enhanced contact-tracing and testing process which is ongoing.
The exercise has resulted in 86,000 samples taken and undergoing testing, from that number, he said the government has received test results of 68, 591 persons and was awaiting for 18,000 more test results.
In the meantime, Nana Akufo-Addo maintained that 99 people had recovered while eight people were dead and stressed enhanced measures to eradicate the virus from the country.
He promised the commitment of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in supervising the completion of a backlog of laboratory samples which have been picked for testing as part of the COVID-19 testing exercise.
Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the positive case came as a result of those who came into contact with infected persons especially travellers, adding that the positive case did not represent new infections that were occurring but represented results from tests of a backlog of samples.
He further stated that the testing centres were expanded to various regions in order to facilitate the testing process and help mitigate the spread of the virus and its impacts on socio-economic development.
Nana Akufo-Addo urged the public to continue joining hands with the government in the fight, stressing that they should stay at home, observe the social distancing and hygienic protocol.
He also lauded institutions, organisations, individuals and other stakeholders who had donated to support the COVID-19 Trust Fund to alleviate poverty in the country.
The President expressed his outfit’s preparedness to increase monitoring in some areas which he deemed could be hot spot for the virus and commended health workers as well as journalists for their dedication in helping the people to get necessary healthcare service and information.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE
