Noguchi clears COVID-19 sample backlog

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research has cleared the backlog of COVID-19 samples, giving it room to conduct tests and provide results within 24 hours.

The backlog was cleared last weekend and the results was part of the 550 new cases which brought Ghana’s total case count to 2,719.

The country is however awaiting the test results of some 1,982 COVID-19 samples from the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR).

The backlog from the KCCR is expected to be cleared by Thursday, the Director of Virology at Noguchi, Prof William Ampofo, made this known at a press briefing in Accra on Tuesday.

“I just crosschecked with Professor Richard Philip at KCCR and he has 1,982 samples awaiting testing, it was 3,500 yesterday [Monday] so they worked all night.  He expects that by Thursday, all backlogs will be done,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye, says his outfit is awaiting the second test results of some 200 patients who have tested negative for the Coronavirus after their first initial positive test.

He also noted that some 453 persons were also being treated at isolation centres across the country.

He added that Ghana has so far tested 129,461 total samples since the first case was diagnosed on March 12.