COVID-19 likely to infect 3 million and kill 15,000 Ghanaians - Akufo-Addo’s health advisor
- Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare has revealed that about 15,000 people may die from the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana
- He noted that he got these figures through a model generated for the coronavirus infections in Ghana
- His projection is based on a baseline projection that 10% of Ghanaians are likely to test positive for the virus before the peak of the infection
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About 10% of Ghana’s population is expected to test positive for the novel coronavirus that has hit the world and is taking the lives of people.
This was stated by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare in an interview with Joy News on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
According to the former director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), his projection is modeled from observations Ghana has made since the country recorded its first cases in March 2020.
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He opined that out of the 10% projected infections, the majority of the cases are likely to be asymptomatic.
“We expect that about 10% of the population may be infected and out of the 10% of the population 80% may not show signs or symptoms at all and 5% of them will be very ill, that is the projection,” he said.
He further explained that out of this 5% of persons projected to be critically ill, 10% may die.
With these projections, if Ghana’s population is estimated at 30 million, it implies some three million Ghanaians may test positive for the COVID-19 when infections peak.
Dr. Nsiah-Asare is, therefore, saying that 5% of the projected three million infections falling seriously sick suggests that at least 150, 000 of the population will fall within this category.
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Out of the 150,000 people whose infection will be critical, 10% of it will be fatal; which means 15,000 deaths would have been recorded before Ghana gets out of the woods.
Per the last updates from the Ghana Health Service, the country has recorded 1,024 has tested positive, nine has died and some 99 have recovered.
YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has expressed worry about the depreciation of the cedi as the coronavirus continues to affect economies.
According to him, emerging market sentiments have led to a capital flight and the high proportion of local bonds held by non-resident investors which could lead to a strain on Ghana’s foreign reserves.
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Source: YEN.com.gh