The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stated that with high recovery rates among COVID-19 patients, conversations around the virus should be focused on the decreasing trend of active cases in the country.
Accordingly, the GHS Director-General Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has called on stakeholders to focus attention on the active cases of COVID-19 and not cumulative cases.
Speaking at a media briefing organised by the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye noted that “we normally don’t focus on the cumulative positive count because the majority of them have already recovered. But the more important indicator is the active cases.
“In Ghana today the active case trend is declining and this is very good news. Our target is to keep it declining”.
According to him, Ghana’s declining active cases compared to other countries in the region indicate that when Ghanaians continue to observe the safety protocols, the country can overcome the virus soon.
Active cases
Active cases are the confirmed cases minus the recoveries and discharges including the death.
“So for all those who have become positive, we take out the number who have recovered or discharged and dead, and the rest is the active cases.
“That is what most countries depend on because that is what it is going to be the case burden. That is the challenge you face not the people who have recovered. In Ghana where the death rate is quite low, for example where we have about 0.654% death rate, it means that recoveries plays an active role in that because the recoveries too are high which plays an active role in what we do.”
Dr Kuma-Aboagye also indicated that in analysing whether government is doing well in the fight against the virus in the country, there is the need to compare the country’s active cases against its confirmed cases.
He pointed out that government’s strategy in eradicating the virus is paying off in Ghana because active cases are on the decline relative to the confirmed cases.
“The rate of growth of your active case versus your confirmed cases is very important. So for example, if your number of active cases are growing faster, than your confirmed cases, it means that you are on your way to recovery. If it is the reverse, it means that you may have an increase but if you don’t have recovery at all it means that your number of burden will continue to rise”, Dr Kuma-Aboagye pointed out.
