The Ministry of Information (MOI) has revealed that the Delta Variant of COVID-19 has been recorded in a community in the country.
Making the announcement on its social media platform, the Ministry revealed that, the variant was recorded in unnamed community in the early hours of the day.
“At 10:00hours on Friday July 2, 2021 the Covid-19 task force were 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.”
MOI
The Ministry of Information indicated that to help contain the spread of the new variant in the country, the relevant agencies are taking the necessary steps to ensure the virus does not spread.
Touching on the current state of persons who have tested positive for the new variant, the ministry revealed the affected persons are in good health.
It therefore said the COVID-19 task force will provide further details on the variant on Sunday July 4, 2021.
The Ministry then advised the general public to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 preventive measures outlined by the government and health experts while going about activities.
Prior to the case detection, reports had it that the new contagious variant originating from India, the Delta variant, has been recorded in Ghana.
Delta variant amongst 45 variants in the country
Earlier the Head of the West Africa Center for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) of the University of Ghana, Professor Gordon Awendare, who confirmed that the Indian variant, also known as the Delta variant, is in the country said it is one of the 45 variants which are currently in Ghana.
Due to this, stakeholders called for measures to be put in place to prevent the new variant from spreading across the country.
Health experts on the other hand have called for more stringent measures to be put in place at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) for Covid-19 testing due to the detection of Delta variant in Ghana.
The strain, first detected in India, has caused huge spikes in the Asian country and a serious increase in cases in the UK even though large sections of the population in those countries are vaccinated. Also, due to the high infection rate of this variant some heath experts disclosed that the AstraZeneca vaccine was ineffective in containing the delta variant.
Vaccine effective against new variant
However, the Ghana Health Service debunking these claims has said that the AstraZeneca vaccine could effectively contain the delta variant.
According to a statement signed by Director-General, Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective against hospitalization due to the Delta variant and showed no deaths among those vaccinated.
The Delta variant, which is currently the most contagious, is spreading quickly across the world. Reports have suggested that the variant may trigger serious illness in persons who are not yet vaccinated.
Based on this, health experts have also advised government to explore diverse types of vaccines to ensure herd immunity against the contagious virus.
