WHO lauds Ghana’s aggressive testing and preventive measures as a ‘good combination’

May 18, 2020 5:52 AM

The World Health Organization has hailed West African country, Ghana for their plan towards managing the global pandemic coronavirus COVID-19.

WHO lauds Ghana’s aggressive testing and preventive measures as a ‘good combination’

Ghana’s confirmed coronavirus cases as of Sunday, May 17, 2020 was 5,735. The country had recorded 1,754 recoveries with 29 deaths.

Responding to Pulse.com.gh’s question on whether Ghana had peaked concerning COVID-19 cases at the WHO Africa Media Leader Briefing, Dr Matshidiso Moeti who is the WHO Regional Director for Africa commended Ghana’s ‘aggressive’ testing approach and preventive measures, saying it was a good combination.

“We would need to look with the Ghanaian authorities and their data and see the conditions, the trends, the basis on which they say they have peaked,” Dr Moeti said on whether Ghana had reached its peak or not.

“What I do know is Ghana is one of the countries that have very significantly expanded testing,” the WHO Regional Director for Africa continued.

Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, Pulse Ghana

“So they have gone out there looking for cases. Some of the increase in numbers that we are seeing in Ghana may be related to the fact that the case definition has changed slightly.

“In the beginning they were probably testing people who presented ill at a health facility. We will look with the Ghanaian government (whether the country has peaked). We know that they put in place strong measures for prevention and they are also testing very aggressively which we think is a good combination,” Dr Moeti said in her response to Pulse.com.gh’s question.

She further explained the need to put in place preventive measures on the African continent explaining that an estimated quarter of the continent’s population could get infected if these measure are not followed.

“We are estimating almost 26% of the (African) population might be infected if effective prevention measures were not put in place,” Dr Moeti said.

“It’s a matter of looking at the data of a country. We know that countries put in place these preventive measures starting with surveillance, contact tracing, isolation and then the physical distancing.

“What we are predicting now is that we might reach a peak at a slower pace but a lower level of cases in countries.”

The WHO Africa Media Leader Briefing is in partnership with the World Economic Forum and had experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and Rwanda on COVID-19 in Africa.