The Northern Region is the latest to confirm its first COVID-19 death.
The deceased is an 80-year-old woman who reported to the Tamale Central Hospital over the weekend with symptoms of COVID-19.
Citi News’ Northern Regional correspondent, Diana Ngon said samples were taken to the Tamale Public Health and Reference Laboratory where she was confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.
According to the Northern Regional Health Directorate, about 29 staff of the Central Hospital have been asked to self isolate while their samples have been taken for testing.
The region recorded three new cases in the recent update by the Ghana Health Service, raising the number from 16 to 19, out of which twelve have recovered and have been discharged.
In an interview with Citi News, the Regional Health Director, John Eleeza said the deceased might have contracted the disease from some people she interacted with.
“From the documentation, [she has] no history of travel but the interesting thing is she sells oranges by the roadside. So it means she has been interacting with a lot of people. Otherwise, it is difficult to tell. Maybe when we get to the house we will know the kind of interaction. For now, we do not want to speculate.”
Meanwhile, the Administrator at the Tamale Central Hospital, Abdulai Fataw said the OPD attendance has reduced from over three hundred patients a day to forty since the wake of COVID-19, which is taking a toll on the hospital’s revenue generation.
“The hospital generates revenue from the clients that we see. As they are no more coming, it has affected revenue generation. We were seeing over 300 people a day but after COVID-19 we are now seeing about just 40 a day. It has affected our admissions. Our admissions have reduced by about 40%.”
Ghana’s COVID-19 cases have risen to 5,127.
This is as a result of 427 new cases, of which 272 are from the Obuasi township in the Ashanti Region.
Ghana has tested a total of 161, 203 persons.
Find below the full breakdown of new cases
