Ghana, on Wednesday morning (18 August 2021), took delivery of some 249,600 doses of UK-donated AstraZeneca vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The consignment is being distributed and transported across Ghana to bolster the country’s vaccination exercise.

UNICEF, which facilitated the arrival of the consignment, said it continues to fulfill its commitment to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consignment came through the #COVAX (GAVI, WHO, CEPI & UNICEF) facility.

The vaccines will further support the ongoing vaccination campaign.

Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, together with a Representative of the UK High Commission, Mr John Whittle, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, UNICEF Representative, Chief Director of The Ministry of Health and EPI Manager, received the vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport.

So far, a total of 1,271,393 people have been vaccinated.

Out of that number, 865,422 have taken their first dose and 405,971 have had both first and second shots of the AstraZeneca vaccines that first arrived in the country a few months ago.

Currently, Ghana’s health infrastructure is battling with 6,265 active cases of COVID-19.

Of the active cases, 51 are critical and 128 are severe.

A total of 945 patients have died since mid-March 2020.

A total of 112,378 cases have been recorded in Ghana with 105,168 recoveries.

Regional breakdown:

Greater Accra Region -60,185

Ashanti Region -19,622

Western Region -6,415

Eastern Region -5,295 Central Region -4,091

Volta Region -3,677

Bono East Region -2,104

Bono Region -1,950 Northern Region -1,693

Upper East Region -1,337

Ahafo Region -975

Western North Region -943 Oti Region -649

Upper West Region -519

North East Region -236

Savanna Region -164

865,422

First Dose

405,971

First & Second Doses

Seventy-nine per cent of all the new COVID-19 cases fuelling Ghana’s third wave are of the Delta variant, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has revealed.

The total tests done so far is 1,459,845 with an overall positivity rate of 7.3 per cent, Dr Kuma-Aboagye told journalists at a press briefing organised by the Information Ministry on Wednesday, 4 August 2021 that as of 1 August, “we have confirmed a total of 106,434”.

The total number of recoveries is 98,814, he said.

So far, a total of 854 have died.

According to him, before the third wave, the death toll was 817.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the trajectory of the active cases is “steep” and “worrying”.

“That tells us in the last few weeks, we have increased our cases from 1,600 to 6,766 in one month”, he illustrated.

“There’s been a very steep rise in the active cases in the last two weeks”, he noted.

Also, he said: “We are having increasing hospitalisation and deaths”.

Additionally, he observed: “We are having emerging hotspots outside Accra and Kumasi”.

Volta, Bono and Bono East regions, he noted, are the new hotspots.

“We also have workplace and school outbreaks taking place”, he noted.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye bemoaned the “total disregard to the use of face masks by the general population”.

“And, unfortunately, the Delta variant has become the dominant variant as we speak now, especially in the Greater Accra”.

“The third wave is on its way up… there’s a steep rise”, he added and put it down to non-adherence to protocols, the huge unvaccinated population and non-adherence to home isolation protocols

The West Africa Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) says there exists some 43 different variants of the Covid-19 in Ghana.

Data collected by the Center indicate that out of the 43, not all of them have been classified to be extremely of concern to Ghana.

“The variants of concern and of interest in Ghana, we have the Alpha, Beta, Kappa, Eta and Delta. There are several of them but out of the 43, these are of major concern and that is why I am very worried and from the data that we have currently, from our sequencing we have currently, the Delta variant is picking up speed.”

Dominic S.Y. Amuzu, a Research Fellow at WACCBIP revealed on 3FM‘s Sunrise morning show Monday.

According to Mr. Amuzu, funding for research work has become a major challenge in dealing with the new variants.

“As a scientist, you don’t know what is going on so you want to be careful and bring back all the protocols and stringent measures to bring it down and more importantly as we keep saying you need to fund research.

But WACCBIP said they have extreme challenges getting samples across the country due to lack of funding.

“There used to be 10 regions, now there are 16, we should be able to sample all these 16 regions and create a database. We are trying to do this on our website but without much funding. To bring more hands and expertise, you might not be able to do this quickly. It will take us time,” he told host Alfred Ocansey.

Meanwhile, a major stakeholders’ conference scheduled to take place in Accra n Wednesday is expected to highlight these concerns in the research gap.

Speaking on the theme ‘Building Sustainable Research Capacity in Africa: Lessons Learnt from the Pandemic’, Dr. Gloria Amegatcher, who is also a Lecturer at the  West Africa Center for Cell Biology and Pathogens, said, “Research is really expensive so if we don’t invest we lose.

“Aside from the sequencing that we do, we are also looking at the exposure in the community and now with the variants that are in, there are asymptomatic people in the community….We are checking the level of antibodies they are producing and the host immune in response. All these will have to be studied in detail and we need money for that.”

Source: 3news.com

Ghana’s COVID-19 death toll is now 812, the latest figures from the Ghana Health Service as of 14 July 2021, have indicated.

The active cases also stand at 2,858.

Some 382 new cases were recently confirmed.

Of the total active caseload, 12 are critical while 27 are severe.

The country has recorded a total of 98,817 cases since the virus entered Ghana in mid-March 2020.

Of that number, some 95,147 have recovered.

So far, Ghana has vaccinated 1,271,393 people with 865,422 having had their first dose and 405,971 taking their second dose.

Regional breakdown of COVID cases nationwide:

Greater Accra Region -54,115

Ashanti Region -16,889

Western Region -5,984

Eastern Region -4,559

Central Region -3,552

Volta Region -2,664

Northern Region -1,661

Bono Region -1,494

Bono East Region -1,467

Upper East Region -1,321

Western North Region -935

Ahafo Region -847 Upper West Region -500

Oti Region -467

North East Region -231

Savanna Region -132

Some 228 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed by the Ghana Health Service.

It takes the number of active cases to 2,458.

Of that number, 11 are critical and 23 severe.

Since mid-March 2020, a total of 97,956 cases have been confirmed in Ghana.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-4549410436183225&output=html&h=250&slotname=4705176708&adk=1921530005&adf=2366005940&pi=t.ma~as.4705176708&w=300&lmt=1626353301&psa=1&format=300×250&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.classfmonline.com%2Fnews%2Fgeneral%2F228-new-COVID-19-cases-confirmed-804-dead-active-cases-2-458-25865&flash=0&wgl=1&dt=1626353300680&bpp=11&bdt=1873&idt=603&shv=r20210708&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D1c5c17d0af58e546-226ed4446dc900e2%3AT%3D1626342090%3ART%3D1626342090%3AS%3DALNI_Mbc2-mnP2sSxLEMhlfEyqN71ERhBw&prev_fmts=0x0%2C300x250&nras=1&correlator=821632128731&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=2093536286.1626342090&ga_sid=1626353301&ga_hid=5387941&ga_fc=0&u_tz=0&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=892&u_w=412&u_ah=892&u_aw=412&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=56&ady=1066&biw=412&bih=797&scr_x=0&scr_y=106&eid=31060975%2C31061747%2C31060474%2C31061383%2C44740386&oid=3&pvsid=211724475230946&pem=606&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F&eae=0&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C412%2C0%2C412%2C797%2C412%2C797&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CEebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=0&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=XLZlFlucyY&p=https%3A//mobile.classfmonline.com&dtd=626

Of that number, 94,694 have recovered.

So far, 804 people have died.

Regional breakdown:

Greater Accra Region -53,734

Ashanti Region -16,624

Western Region -5,967

Eastern Region -4,500

Central Region -3,552

Volta Region -2,643

Northern Region -1,661

Bono Region -1,455

Bono East Region -1,454

Upper East Region -1,320

Western North Region -919

Ahafo Region -833

Upper West Region -500 Oti Region -463

North East Region -231

Savanna Region -129

Ghana’s ICUs are not full, the Ghana Health Service has said.

Director-General Patrick Kuma-Aboagye told journalists on Wednesday, 14 July 2021 at a media briefing that: “Our ICUs are not full”.

“For example, Ridge Hospital has 16 ICUs beds but as we speak, they only have three occupants”.

“Ga East has about 19 cases currently on admission with six on ICU”.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-4549410436183225&output=html&h=250&slotname=4705176708&adk=1921530005&adf=2366005940&pi=t.ma~as.4705176708&w=300&lmt=1626342089&psa=0&format=300×250&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.classfmonline.com%2Fnews%2Fhealth%2FCOVID-19-ICUs-not-full-critical-cases-up-but-we-re-not-overwhelmed-GHS-25864&flash=0&wgl=1&dt=1626342088672&bpp=9&bdt=2535&idt=1175&shv=r20210708&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&prev_fmts=0x0%2C300x250&nras=1&correlator=2701864075182&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=2093536286.1626342090&ga_sid=1626342090&ga_hid=1797080274&ga_fc=0&u_tz=0&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=892&u_w=412&u_ah=892&u_aw=412&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=56&ady=1154&biw=412&bih=797&scr_x=0&scr_y=2106&eid=42530671%2C31060972%2C31060975%2C31061486%2C31061747%2C31060474&oid=3&pvsid=353170936326607&pem=606&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F&eae=0&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C412%2C0%2C412%2C797%2C412%2C797&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CEe%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=0&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&fsb=1&xpc=Hih3wmEPgE&p=https%3A//mobile.classfmonline.com&dtd=1198

“There is a plan to upgrade further with support from the COVID-19 Fund, the ICU capacity at the Ridge Hospital”, he announced. “As I said, the critical cases have increased but we are not overwhelmed yet.”

“To prepare for more vaccines, we have had to upgrade our cold chain facilities, especially the ultra-negative cold chain which can store Pfizer, Moderna, and others,” he said.

“So far, with our collaboration with Zipline, we have the capacity to store about 1.7 million doses. Yesterday [Tuesday] we received 16 ultra-negative cold chain vaccines that will be distributed to all the 16 regions in the country to ensure we are able to vaccinate as many Ghanaians as possible.”

Also, he said Ghana is to take delivery of some 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in mid-August this year.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said: “We are expecting about 1.2 million Pfizer vaccines from the US through COVAX, and we are hoping that latest by the middle of August, it should be available”.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye also revealed that a total of 2,323 students from 363 schools have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of 2021.

“The North East Region is the only region with no cases recorded in schools,” he said.

Achimota SHS in Accra is one of the hardest-hit in the Greater Accra Region.

It has been on a two-week partial lockdown following the detection of 135 cases of the Delta variant among some students and staff.

According to Dr Kuma-Aboagye, a total of 1,173 students and staff had their samples taken and 195 students tested positive out of the 1,156 results available.

Also, 120 have recovered.

The active cases in the school currently stands at 75

The number of Ghana’s active COVID-19 cases has shot up to 2,247, the latest figures from the Ghana Health Service as of 8 July 2021 indicate.

Of that number, eleven are in critical condition while 23 are severe.

The death toll has also climbed to 801.

Some 148 new cases were also confirmed recently.

Since mid-March 2020, Ghana has recorded a total caseload of 97,585.

Out of that number, 94,537 have recovered

Ghana has recorded some 129 new cases of COVID-19, the latest figures from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has indicated.

The current active caseload is 1,758.

Since mid-March 2020, Ghana has recorded a total of 96,708 cases.

Of that number, 94,153 have recovered.

The national death toll is 797.

Regional breakdown:

Greater Accra Region -53,051

Ashanti Region -16,269

Western Region -5,957

Eastern Region -4,464

Central Region -3,552

Volta Region -2,617

Northern Region -1,661

Bono East Region -1,447

Bono Region -1,434

Upper East Region -1,320

Western North Region -919

Ahafo Region -794

Upper West Region -500

Oti Region -461 North East Region -231

Savanna Region -123

An estimated 3.1 million Ghanaians, representing 10 percent of the estimated 31 million population of Ghana, have one form of mental disorder or the other, with 16,000 having severe cases.null

Sourcing the data from the WHO and the Ghana Mental Health Authority, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Health Minister, told Parliament that:

“It is clearly established that 41 percent of Ghanaians have psychological distress – mild, moderate, severe – and this costs the nation 7 percent GDP loss”

He was responding to a question by Mr Christian Corletey Otuteye, the MP for Sege, who wanted to know what plans the Ministry had to address the plight of persons with mental health problems in Ghana.

The Minister categorised persons with mental health problems into four: those on the street, those at treatment facilities, which include psychiatric and general health facilities, those in the traditional and faith healing centres, and those in their houses and organisations who do not recognise their mental health illness or who recognise but are not doing anything about it.

”The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 10 percent of the population of Ghana has one form of mental disorder or the other. Thus, with an estimated 31 million population in Ghana, we have an estimated 3.1 million with mental disorders,” he said.null

“The Mental Health Authority did a rapid assessment, a mini census of persons with severe mental illness on the streets a few years ago and they got 16,000 people in our cities, towns and villages all over the country.”

Mr Agyeman-Manu assured the House that the Ministry and its allied institutions including the Mental Health Authority, the Ghana Health Service and others, knew the size of the problem and had the human resources to address it.

“What we are doing now is to spread mental health services nationwide, integrate into the general health care such that wherever we treat malaria, mental health can be treated. This will help to access care,” he said.

Mr Agyeman-Manu said under the Agenda 111 programme of government, two new psychiatric hospitals were to be built in the northern and middle belts, adding that the sites had been identified, drawings made, and contractors being chosen.

He said until recently, psychiatric medications were not readily available, but they were now available through budgetary allocations and donor support adding that more psychiatrists had also been trained, from 10 to 45 at the moment.null

He solicited the support of the Speaker to find more money to address mental health issues, and announced that the Ministry was working on how to establish a Mental Health Levy.

The Minister advocated an increase in budgetary allocation to enable mental health patients on the streets to be taken in small numbers at a time for treatment and sent back home to their communities.

In relation to a question on anti-snake serum asked by Mr Daniel Nsala Wakpai, MP for Kpandai, Mr Agyeman-Manu announced that the Ministry had included Anti-Snake Serum in the Framework Contract for Essential Medicines.

Under the Framework, qualified firms are selected to supply Anti-Snake Serum, which are allocated and distributed to regional medical stores (RMS) and teaching hospitals across the country.

“The Ministry allocates the quantities to the RMS and the teaching hospitals based on their consumption and replenishes as the stocks reach their reorder level,” he said

.Source: GNA

At least two-thirds of the Covid-19 cases(89) recorded at the Achimota School in Accra have recovered, according to GHS.

In all 135 cases were recorded initially, but GHS reports 46 current active cases at the school.

All the 135 cases at the time of diagnosis were either asymptomatic or mild to moderate illness, the  Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye said at a Press conference.

According to him, a “significant” number of the cases at Achimota School were the deadly Delta variant.

The Ministry of Information, on Friday, 2 June 2021, announced that the Delta variant had been found in a community within the country.

“At 10:00hours on Friday, 2 July 2021, the Covid-19 task force was advised by the Ghana Health Service that the Delta variant of the SARS-Cov-2 virus has been recorded within a community (ie non-arriving passengers) in the latest round of genomic sequencing”, the Ministry posted on its Facebook page.

One percent of the Population fully Vaccinated

Three hundred ninety-six thousand seven hundred fifty-nine (396,759) Ghanaian residents have received both doses of the AstraZeneca Coronavirus vaccine, official figures from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) show.

The figures announced by the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye represents 1.3% of Ghana’s population of 30 million

Mrs Akufo-Addo speaking during the congress

First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has made a passionate appeal to the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and other stakeholders to take the necessary actions to ensure Ghana meets her nutritional goals and achieves optimum health for all.

Speaking at the opening session of a two-day congress on the theme “Synchronizing the Frontiers of Nutrition and Dietetics for sustainable National Impact” Mrs. Akufo-Addo said “There is an urgent need, to ensure that the poor and vulnerable have access to the needed knowledge, resources, and services to achieve optimum nutrition. This calls for a great deal of work, which needs to be carried out, within a very limited timeframe”.

Referencing the 2020 Global Nutrition Report, the First Lady indicated that Ghana is on track to achieving the global targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition and has made some progress towards reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, low birth weight of newborn infants and stunting of children under 5 years.

The First Lady however said there was still a lot of work to be done despite these gains.

“Ghana still has not made much progress towards exclusive breastfeeding, reducing stunting and wasting in children and curbing diet-related non-communicable diseases such as adult obesity and diabetes,” she said.

Mrs Akufo-Addo urged all relevant stakeholders including the Ministries of Health, Finance and Economic Planning and Agriculture, to make adequate investments to ensure optimal nutrition in the critical 1000 day window, between the start of a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday and to ensure the poor and vulnerable are supported to achieve optimum health.

Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Professor Anna Lartey, Director of Nutrition and Food Systems Division, FAO Geneva, Italy, Professor Matilda Steiner–Asiedu and the President of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dr Kingsley K. A. Preko joined the virtual meeting.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says most international travelers arriving in Ghana with the Delta variant of coronavirus are from Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Director General of GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, made this known to the press in Accra on Sunday, July 4th, 2021.

He stated that therefore that “additional measures being implemented against arrivals from hot spot countries (Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

He stated that the delta variant has a higher transmission rate.

According to him, genomic sequencing for coronavirus in Ghana was being done by NMIMR, WACBIP and UHAS.

He noted that a total of 1,212 covid19 samples have been sequenced.

He reiterated that community detection of the delta strain was confirmed on July , 2021

Ghana has detected six Delta variants of COVID-19 so far, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed.null

The variants were confirmed from samples taken from passengers at the Kotoka International Airport between April and June.

A press release issued by the Director General of the Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, on Tuesday, June 22 to respond to some media reports said: “No Delta variant has been detected from samples taken from cases in the community.”

This comes in the wake of reports that the deadly Indian strain was within the populace while the approved vaccines in Ghana cannot immune one against it.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye, in the press release, admits that there has been a surge in the virus recently but “reports that Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca vaccines are not effective against the Delta strain of SARS-Cov-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) are untrue”.

He cites the Public Health England, which says that two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective against hospitalisation due to the Delta variant.

He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to take advantage of vaccination when their turn is due and entreated all and sundry to adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols.Source: 3news.com

Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye

The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have indicated that the Delta variant of Covid-19 has not been detected in communities.

According to a statement signed by the Director-General, GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, no Delta variant has been detected from samples taken from cases in the community.

“As of now, the country has detected six Delta variants of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 virus) from all samples taken between April and June 2021 at the ports of entry,” the statement indicated.

The health service noted that all passengers who test positive at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are put under mandatory isolation.

“All positive samples are sent for further testing (genomic sequencing) to identify the variants.

Variants sequenced from samples of positive cases at the Airport do not necessarily end up in the community,” it explained.

The MOH and GHS further stated that the country in April 2021, experienced a surge in cases at the airport during which period 308 positives were identified.

However, it said Ghana has not experienced the third wave partly due to the robust surveillance system in place at the ports of entry and strict isolation of all cases detected.

The health authorities reiterated their assurance that the Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca vaccines are effective against the Delta strain of SARS-Cov-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).

“According to Public Health England (PHE), two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective against hospitalisation due to the Delta variant and showed no deaths among those vaccinated. The data also suggest that the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective against symptomatic disease caused by the Delta variant,” the statement said.

A study conducted by Gamaleya Center suggests that Sputnik-V is more efficient against the Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, compared to other COVID-19 vaccines.

Amid global supply shortages, the MOH and GHS reiterated their efforts to ensure that adequate vaccines are procured to protect the population.

“The MOH, GHS and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) are working collaboratively to ensure that vaccines that come into the country are safe and effective.

The Service would like to urge Ghanaians to take advantage of vaccination when their turn is due while entreating the general public to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention protocols i.e., wearing of face masks, practising hand hygiene and physical distancing as part of the strategies,” it said