Suspected coronavirus in Ghana: Patients not showing severest of symptoms

Health authorities in Ghana have given the assurance that recording three suspected cases of coronavirus should not call for panic.
To them, although the virus was very contagious the situation is not a matter of life and death because the suspects have not shown severest of symptoms, reports Graphic Online’s health reporter, Doreen Andoh.
Some clinics on Wednesday night [February 5, 2020] referred two patients to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) on suspicion of having the coronavirus, while another suspected case was picked up at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
The one at the airport has tested negative by Noguchi, while the two picked at Korle Bu is being investigated by the research institute which is the designated testing facility for the virus.
The results are expected today. The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is preparing a press conference to update the public.
The two patients, a Chinese and an Argentine who have been living together in Ghana for some days, have been isolated at Korle Bu and their blood samples have been sent to Noguchi for further analysis.
The Director of Public Health at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Amoh, said the prevention programme rollout was a joke.
He said excluding Korle Bu, the premier medical facility in the country, was wrong, adding that the Ministry of Health gave funds to the hospitals it had designated without preparing the teaching hospital which was a major referral centre.
After announcing the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge) and the Tema General Hospital as the management centres, the health minister added that all teaching hospitals were automatic centres as they had the capacity to deal with suspected cases.
But Dr Amoh said the mistake was repeated during the Ebola virus outbreak in 2013, adding that the GH¢2.5 million funds made available to finance initial response initiatives would be dissipated by people in suit.
graphic.com.gh