The website of the Ghana Health Service was announced as the official communication medium for Coronavirus updates in the country but it appears information is being managed as regards the number of confirmed cases recorded.
Until 8.29am, Thursday, Ghana had confirmed seven cases. A tweet from Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced two more cases had been confirmed.
“Unfortunately we have confirmed two more cases overnight. Ghana’s case count is now at 9. Health services are still managing all suspected and confirmed cases well,” his tweet read.
Knowing how scanty the information was, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah in a separate tweet said: “GHS website to be updated with details shortly.”
A visit to the website had figures which seemed to suggest that the country had rather recorded 11 cases instead of 9.
"On the 18th March, we received another report from NMIMR indicating two (2) more confirmed cases from the Greater Accra Region. Both are imported cases. One is a 56-year-old man, a Ghanaian who travelled back to Accra from a trip to UK about a week ago. The other is a 33-year-old Ghanaian, who returned to Accra from a conference in UAE. Both cases are receiving treatment in isolation,” a paragraph read.
The second paragraph, however, mentioned that two other cases had been confirmed in Kumasi.
“Yesterday, we received notification from KCCR indicating two (2) newly confirmed in Kumasi,” it read.
A few minutes afterwards, the Kumasi confirmation bit was taken off the website but screenshots had been taken.
Later in the afternoon, the Ghana Health Service, through the same medium, announced it had confirmed two cases in Kumasi. Interestingly, while previous communication said the cases were confirmed on March 18, GHS this time around said the cases were confirmed on March 19.
Information on the website read: "On 19 March 2020, we received notification from KCCR indicating two (2) newly confirmed cases in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region."
Why was the earlier information about two confirmed cases in Kumasi deleted? If the service had not received confirmation, why did it publish it in the first place?
The media has been asked to be circumspect with its reportage about coronavirus – a reason space was made available on the Ghana Health Service’s website for updates. Isn’t it imperative for authorities to be accurate with its report?
Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Badu Sarkodie