The number of persons confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus in Ghana has risen to 4,700.

This was revealed by President Akufo-Addo in a televised address on Sunday night.

According to him, this number comes from a total of 160,501 tests conducted nationwide so far.

“With our total number of infections standing at 4,700 with 494 recoveries, 5 persons being critically ill and 4,179 responding to treatment, 22 persons virtually with underlying conditions have unhappily died,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo attributed the rise in cases to the accelerated testing, isolation and treatment undertaken by government since the introduction of measures to combat the spread of the virus.

This he believes was backed by the enhanced contact tracing which he believes is critical to the containment of the virus.

“Had we not been proactive in undertaking enhanced contact tracing of infected persons and had relied solely on testing persons who reported to hospitals, which is the practice followed by some other countries, i.e routine testing, our case count would have stood at 1,413.

“The others 3,232 i.e. two-thirds of the population of positives would have been undetected and still be within the population unknowingly infecting others,” the President emphasised.