Epidemiology of COVID-19 outbreak in Ghana, 2020

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