Coronavirus disease, a global scare

On January 7, this year, the Chinese authorities confirmed an outbreak of a viral disease, coronavirus, following a series of reported cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in December last year.

The outbreak began in Wuhan, China.

Since then, there have been records of the disease in Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

On Tuesday, January 22, 2020, the USA officially reported its first victim of the infection when a Washington DC man who had recently travelled to Wuhan was diagnosed of a rare respiratory disease and yesterday, it further announced that a second person, a woman in her 60s who had returned home to Chicago from Wuhan in China had also been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Globally, there are more than 800 confirmed cases of the virus, which has killed 26 people in China alone.

Obviously, the coronavirus disease has caused a global scare because of how fast it can spread. Coronavirus is said to have begun in animals before being transferred to humans, and there is neither a specific treatment plan nor vaccine.

The viral infection is associated with common cold, pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome and the infected patient presents with fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.

Ghana’s response to the outbreak has also been swift. Recognising that the country was under threat due to the large number of Ghanaians who travel to China for various transactions, particularly trade, the Ministry of Health has issued a statement warning the public about the outbreak and has announced enhanced screening procedures, including the administration of health questionnaires at the country’s ports.

The ministry also said that health facilities had been alerted to prepare and manage cases in case of an outbreak.

Furthermore, it has directed the public to observe strict hygienic practices such as regular handwashing with soap, avoiding contact with any persons showing signs of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing; drinking plenty fluids, eating well, reducing stress and having enough sleep.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry further announced that all passengers travelling from China to Ghana would undergo enhanced screening procedures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among individuals in the country.

It is clear from global happenings that the coronavirus scare is far from over. In view of this health scare, we cannot afford not to stay on top of the problem.

Ghana needs to leverage its response beyond warnings and health messages to the public.

The country must have the capacity and resources to promptly isolate (quarantine) any suspicious cases detected and to put in place infection control measures to reduce the risk of transmission to other individuals.

In addition, we need the expertise and logistics to investigate locations and movements of suspected patients in-country and further identify and monitor any close contacts who are possibly exposed.

Ghana must be commended for being able to ward off the SARS epidemic that affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8,000 cases in 2003, and also for managing the outbreak of the H1N1 flu between 2009 and 2010.

It is with that same zeal that we expect the country to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.