The Ghana Health Service has confirmed that 35 of the 231 Ghanaian deportees from Kuwait have tested positive for COVID-19.

The 35 positive cases represent about 15% of the total number of deportees.

These results follow an initial test conducted by the Ghana Health Service upon their arrival last Saturday, 23rd May 2020.

The Ghana Health Service’s COVID-19 case count update on Sunday, May 31, 2020, confirmed the results and further disclosed that 113 more cases have been confirmed across the country.

Although all the 231 deportees were reported to have tested negative for the virus in Kuwait before being enplaned to Ghana, Ghanaian officials undertook an independent test on all of them upon arrival at the Kotoka International Airport before taking them in for a 14-day mandatory quarantine period.

The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie hinted on Thursday, May 28, 2020, at a press briefing that some of the deportees had tested positive but he did not give an exact number.

“We haven’t finished with the testing of all the people that we took samples from. There are indications that some of them are positive [for COVID-19]…We will follow up on this and when we have the full report, we will share this report appropriately,” Dr. Sarkodie said.