The National Case Management Coordinator for Severe and Critical covid-19 cases, Dr. Christian Owoo has issued a grim warning that Ghana COVID-19 cases are rising at an alarming rate.
Dr. Owoo estimates that the emergency health system in the country may get overwhelmed at the rate of infection and critical hospitalisations.
Already, reports have it that Ghana’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds are getting filled to capacity. But the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, has doubted such reports.
“I can tell you about two weeks ago, the few numbers we had almost by last week started doubling in a matter of days. But we know the trajectory that we are on; it’s not sustainable if it continues on that trajectory, it does not matter how much we try to sugarcoat things because eventually, the system will be overwhelmed not only with respect to human resources but even material resources”, Dr. Owoo said.
A virologist at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research Dr Michael Owusu has corroborated Dr. Owoo’s warning, saying that if urgent actions are not taken by government and citizens to enforce adherence to the protocols, more cases and deaths will be recorded.
“….Once we know that we have a new strain in the system, then as this viruses do, it is expected to go through a third wave which is expected a third wave which will hit the very highest peak before it comes down and it looks as if this is what has started and there’s no doubt we are in a full-blown third wave,” Dr. Michael Owusu said.
Current data from the GHS reveals that there are 810 deaths from COVID-19 so far, with active cases at 2,601 with 95,024 recoveries.
Meanwhile, the GHS has been unable to give a proper breakdown of whether the rising infections are due to the highly virulent Delta variant of COVID-19.