A lecturer at the Global Health Department of the School of Public Health, KNUST says the graph presented by the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service does not represent the peak of Covid-19 infection curve.
Dr John Amuasi stated that the Service was not measuring the actual rate of spread of the disease.
He told Samson Lardy Anyenini on Joy FM's Newsfile show Saturday that, the GHS graph rather showed the results of the country’s largely expanded targeted surveillance.
The Global Health expert said for the country to truly know it is at its peak of infection, the rate of spread of the disease would have to be measured.
He added, “When that is sustained, and then eventually you have the reproductive number dropping below one that is when you’d have, eventually, a decline.”
“So to sum it up, what has been presented is a certain type of peak, but it is only a peak of the picture from our expanded surveillance. We are not measuring the spread of the disease and therefore we are not able to tell what type of spread it is and where we are going from this,” he added.
Dr John Amuasi further explained that Dr Adu Sarkodie’s graph was rather representing “those who have been contact traced, those who have been actively surveilled and looked out for to a large extent.”
“And the most reliable graph that you want for which you can begin to speak of a peak and talk about a decline eventually in your infections is in relation to the rate of spread of the disease and this is when you want your reproductive number to go below one.
“This graph does not give you this information, and the comments that he passed regarding the peak were comments on this graph,” he stressed.
Ghana’s confirmed cases of coronavirus have risen to 4,012, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has reported.
The new figure represents an increase of 921 cases from the last update announced on Thursday.
According to the Service, 20 more persons have recovered from the previous 303 recoveries reported with deaths still at 18.
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