The number of cases of the novel Coronavirus in Ghana have increased to 16.

The Ghana Health Service’s website dedicated to updating Ghanaians on COVID-19 cases confirmed the development.

The five new cases are all in the Greater Accra Region.

The latest update confirms fears community spreading has begun in Ghana with two of the infected persons having no history of travel.

Below is a breakdown of the Five (5) new confirmed cases on the 19th March 2020. All five were reported from Greater Accra Region.

#29-year-old Ghanaian lady; resident of Accra; no history of travel; sample confirmed positive in the laboratory

#34-year-old Ghanaian lady resident of Accra; contact of a confirmed case at place of work; sample confirmed positive in the laboratory

# 53-year-old Ghanaian male, resident of Tema; no history of travel, no evidence of close contact with confirmed case; sample confirmed positive in the laboratory

#41-year-old Ghanaian male; arrived in Ghana by KLM on the 15 March 2020; indicated exposure with family members in Amsterdam exhibiting respiratory symptoms and also on the flight with some passengers sneezing and coughing; sample confirmed positive in the laboratory.

#36-year-old Ghanaian male; resident of Paris, France; date of arrival in Ghana unconfirmed; no evidence of contact with infected person;

This brings to a total of sixteen (16) confirmed cases in Ghana, with no death.

Contact tracing has been initiated in all these confirmed cases.