A new variant of the coronavirus has been recorded in Ghana.
This was revealed by President Akufo-Addo amid his 22nd update on the fight against the pandemic in the country.
“Recent genomic sequencing undertaken by our scientists have established that some arriving passengers tested positive for new variants of Covid-19,” he stated.
During the address on Sunday night, he stressed that in Ghana’s case “these passengers have all been isolated.
“Furthermore, work is ongoing to determine the presence and extent of spread of the new variants in the general population,” the President added.
Numerous of strains have, over the past few weeks, been detected case in many countries stimulating major concerns about the tendency of the newly developed vaccines to aid in combating the impact of the pandemic.
As a way of managing the situation, the government is intensifying its strategy of enhanced tracing, testing and treating, to allow identify infected persons for isolation and treatment.
“Government is intensifying its strategy of enhanced 3Ts, i.e. tracing, testing and treating, to allow us identify infected persons, isolate them, and treat them. A considerable number of contact tracers are being mobilised to follow up on contacts of all who test positive. All laboratories, public and private, must supply, in real time, data on all persons tested on the common platform established by the Ghana Health Service. There will be sanctions against laboratories who fail to comply. We have also provided additional logistics, including vehicles, to the Ghana Health Service for the supervision and monitoring of asymptomatic cases being managed from home”.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service is recording an average of 200 new cases of COVID-19 infections daily with the number of patients requiring hospitalization and intensive care is rising. The number of severe cases, which stood at eighteen (18) a week ago, has increased sharply to one hundred and twenty (120).
Thirteen (13 ) out of the Sixteen (16) regions have recorded active cases with a nationwide case count shot up to 1,924 as Covid-19 treatment centres “have gone from having zero patients to now being full because of the upsurge in infections,” the President said.
