Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec;54(4 Suppl):5-15.
doi: 10.4314/gmj.v54i4s.3.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana, 2020

Ernest Kenu  1 , Magdalene A Odikro  1 , Keziah L Malm  2 , Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe  3 , Charles L Noora  1 , Joseph A Frimpong  1 , Benedict Calys-Tagoe  4 , Kwadwo A Koram  5
Affiliations

Epidemiology of COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana, 2020

Ernest Kenu et al. Ghana Med J. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: 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.

Methods: 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.

Design: A cross-sectional study design.

Setting: Ghana.

Participants: All confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana from March 12 to June 30, 2020.

Interventions: None.

Main outcome measures: Epidemiological characterization of all confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded from March 12 - June 30, 2020 in Ghana by person, place and time.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

Funding: 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Ghana; geospatial; pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared

Figures

Figure 1A-1D
Figure 1A-1D
Cumulative Spatial maps showing geo-spatial distribution of COVID-19 Cases over the four-month period.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dots Map showing the hotspots for COVID-19 in Greater Accra Region as at June 30th, 2020
Figure 3
Figure 3
A dots map showing hotspots for COVID-19 infection in the Ashanti Region as at June 30th, 2020.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Epidemiological Curve of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ghana, March 12, 2020 – June 30, 2020.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Contact Tracing for First 30 Cases of COVID-19 Outbreak, Ghana, 2020
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Weiss SR, Leibowitz JL. Advances in Virus Research. Vol. 81. Academic Press Inc.; 2011. Coronavirus pathogenesis; pp. 85–164. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Monchatre-Leroy E, Boué F, Boucher JM, et al. Identification of alpha and beta coronavirus in wildlife species in france: bats, rodents, rabbits, and hedgehogs. Viruses. 2017;9(12) doi: 10.3390/v9120364. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Su S, Wong G, Shi W, et al. Epidemiology, Genetic Recombination, and Pathogenesis of Coronaviruses. Trends in Microbiology. 2016;24(6):490–502. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2016.03.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zaki AM, Van Boheemen S, Bestebroer TM, Osterhaus ADME, Fouchier RAM. Isolation of a novel coronavirus from a man with pneumonia in Saudi Arabia. New England Journal of Medicine. 2012;367(19):1814–1820. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1211721. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gao H, Yao H, Yang S, Li L. From SARS to MERS: evidence and speculation. Frontiers of Medicine. 2016;10(4):377–382. doi: 10.1007/s11684-016-0466-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources