He is among the confirmed three more cases of the novel coronavirus in Ghana, sending the number of active cases.
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Chinese who tested positive for Coronavirus in Kumasi initially resisted - Ghana Health Service
The 27-year-old Chinese national who traveled outside Ghana and returned recently inintially resisted being tested, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed.
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"Among the confirmed cases, 17 are of Ghanaian nationality and seven other nationals namely: Norway, Lebanon, China, France, UK," the GHS said.
The Chinese national fell ill and residents in the Chirapatre area where he lived upon seeing the symptoms suspected him and reported to the health officials to intervene since he was refusing to go to the hospital.
But when the health officials approached him in his home, he resisted medical assistance and refused to be tested.
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However, it took the intervention of the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) with armed security personnel including police and military to forcibly take him to the hospital.
He is reported to have refused to comply with the protocols in transporting patients to the hospital.
The Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang confirming the report said: "sometimes there is the need to break confidentiality using the Chirapatre issue as a test case."
He stated: "In fact, this is a person [Chinese national] who had been sick at home and everybody realised that from the signs and symptoms, and from the travel history, this may be one of the conditions. So we [health officials] were alerted and our team went there and then, we realised that that is the situation but he was still refusing, but we can't put the public in any danger and for that reason, we had to call REGSEC [and] the security agencies to support us to convey him to the hospital and truly when we tested, he was positive. So you know that in situations like this, though human rights and other confidentiality issues are very important, but public health is also the key, so if you are not conforming to the public health principles, we have to apply all force."
As of March 23, 2020, Ghana has recorded its second death from the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
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According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) a total of 521 suspected cases have since been tested for COVID-19 by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research.
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