There is a feeling of anxiety among Ghanaians following news of the death of a man who was suspected of contracting the deadly coronavirus.
The suspected coronavirus patient died in Ghana’s Kumasi city over the weekend but Ghana’s Health Service officials say test on him turned negative.
Health officials are however unable to tell for now what really killed the patient, something that doesn’t make many citizens comfortable.
According to a Ghanaian health official, the man returned from Germany and showed symptoms similar to Coronavirus.
Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Badu Sarkodie told local media that an emergency test conducted on him tested negative.
He said “There was a suspected case of coronavirus in the Ashanti Region during the weekend, quickly test were taken and within a matter of 12 hours, we had a report indicating it was negative meaning we do not have any case of coronavirus in Ghana.”
“The priority here was the coronavirus which could be a public issue, we tested and he proved negative, as at now, the cause of his death is not yet known,” he adds.
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Anxiety all over
But that doesn’t seem to be allaying fears among Ghanaians because the deceased returned from Germany where the outbreak has been recorded.
There are over 100 cases of coronavirus in Germany with the numbers likely to double.
Ghana has so far conducted 30 tests for Coronavirus and is yet to confirm a positive case although five African countries namely, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria have all recorded cases.
Sarkodie said “The total number of cases tested come close to 30 and all are negative. Some people were picked at the airport with symptoms that looked like the virus, we took them in and run a test on them and all turned out to be negative”.
There are more than 86,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths recorded in some 60 countries worldwide.
Africa has relatively reported of low outbreak rate, something that baffles some health experts who earlier feared for the continent’s ability to handle an outbreak.
The virus is a global public health emergency, according to the World Health Organisation and there are concerns it could soon turn out into a global pandemic.
Victims of coronavirus often suffer from respiratory illness and this new strain of coronavirus was not previously identified in humans.
Source: Africafeeds.com
