Abstract
Describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 cases detected in the first four months of the pandemic in Ghana by person, place and time to provide an understanding of the local epidemiology of the disease. We conducted an exploratory descriptive study of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana from March 12 to June 30, 2020. Data was merged from the country's electronic databases, cleaned and summarized using medians, proportions and geospatial analysis. A cross-sectional study design. Ghana. All confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana from March 12 to June 30, 2020. None. Epidemiological characterization of all confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded from March 12 - June 30, 2020 in Ghana by person, place and time. A total of 17,763 cases were recorded with median age (IQR) of 33years (One month to 85 years). Among the confirmed cases, 10,272 (57.8%) were males and 3,521 (19.8%) were symptomatic with cough recorded in 1,420 (40.3%) cases. The remaining 14,242 (80.2%) were asymptomatic. Greater Accra region recorded the highest number of confirmed cases 11,348 (63.9%). All 16 administrative regions had recorded cases of COVID-19 by June 30, 2020 due to internal migration between the hotspots and other regions. The epidemiological curve showed a propagated outbreak with 117 deaths (CFR= 0.67%) recorded. A propagated outbreak of COVID - 19 was confirmed in Ghana on March 12, 2020. Internal migration from hotspots to other regions led to the spread of the virus across the nation. Majority of cases were asymptomatic. The COVID-19 pandemic response and writing workshop by the Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (GFELTP) was supported with funding from President Malaria Initiative - CDC, and Korea International Cooperation Agency (on CDC CoAg 6NU2GGH001876) through AFENET.
Highlights
The causative pathogen for the outbreak was identified as SARS - Coronavirus 2 which rapidly spread through China and other parts of the world.11–13The disease was thereafter named COVID19
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, headache, sore throat, cold, difficulty in breathing, muscle pain and malaise. 14,15 From large cohorts of patients, it was found that the disease presents as self-limiting in approximately 80% of infected individuals with 15% developing severe pneumonia and mortality estimated at 3.5%. 16–18 Individuals with underlying health conditions and the aged are more susceptible to the infection and have higher chances of severe outcomes. 15,19,20
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 and later as the number of cases and territories reporting cases increased globally, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020
Summary
Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that cause respiratory, hepatic and neurological diseases in domestic and wild animals, and humans. Among humans, six species of coronavirus have been identified to cause disease. 3 Among these, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) are of zoonotic origin and have been known to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreaks among humans. 4–7 With increasing human to animal contact and interfaces in recent times, an outbreak of novel zoonotic species of Coronavirus was reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. The causative pathogen for the outbreak was identified as SARS - Coronavirus 2 which rapidly spread through China and other parts of the world.11–13The disease was thereafter named COVID19.www.ghanamedj.org Volume 54 Number 4 Supplement December 2020Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, headache, sore throat, cold, difficulty in breathing, muscle pain and malaise. 14,15 From large cohorts of patients, it was found that the disease presents as self-limiting in approximately 80% of infected individuals with 15% developing severe pneumonia and mortality estimated at 3.5%. 16–18 Individuals with underlying health conditions and the aged are more susceptible to the infection and have higher chances of severe outcomes. 15,19,20The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 and later as the number of cases and territories reporting cases increased globally, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. 21 As at July 1st, 2020, over 213 countries were affected with over 10 million cases and 515,000 deaths. 22 Currently most of the countries affected have reported both imported cases and local transmission. Six species of coronavirus have been identified to cause disease. 4–7 With increasing human to animal contact and interfaces in recent times, an outbreak of novel zoonotic species of Coronavirus was reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China.. The causative pathogen for the outbreak was identified as SARS - Coronavirus 2 which rapidly spread through China and other parts of the world.11–13The disease was thereafter named COVID19. Heightened surveillance, tracing of case contacts, varying degrees of restrictions on movement, preventive measures including physical distancing, wearing of nose mask and personal hygiene are among the measures taken by countries to halt the spread of COVID-19. Voluntary testing of people within 1–2 km radius of identified cases was instituted With these response strategies, the country was able to detect about 1000 additional cases of which about 90% were asymptomatic. As at June 30, 2020, over 300,000 tests have been conducted with over 17,000 confirmed cases, 117 deaths and 13,000 recoveries. 27
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