Dr Michael Owusu, a Virologist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has disclosed that the spread of Covid-19 Delta variant cannot be prevented.
According to him, the only way to get the country out of the woods is to “slow its transmission which will help reduce its impact just as many countries are doing.”
“No, you cannot prevent it (Delta Virus). No matter how much you do and no matter how much you put in effort and whatever you do, you cannot prevent it”.
Additionally, Dr Michale Owusu explained that the strict measures implemented at the Kotoka International Airport have helped to slow down the incidence of a third wave of Covid-19 in the country.
“I think this current third wave should have occurred a month or two ago when Kenya’s were experiencing their own but some of the measures we put in place delayed this a bit and then allowed it to gradually flow through the system”.
Adherence to safety protocols
Dr Owusu further underscored the need for Ghanaians to continue to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols. This, he explained, will ensure the safety of all and sundry in the country.
“If we were to also put in some strict measures in terms of people behaviour and interaction, we may not experience what we are experiencing now. Because, I mean, the PCR test and all the other antigen test are good. But if you test 100 people and they are positive, you should expect that two or three of them will slip through and when two or three people slip through, and the people in the community are not following any protocols, it’s only a matter of time and many of them will become infected.
“As soon as we (KCCR) got an indication that Ghana has recorded community transmission of this, means that now you can’t do anything again. You have to begin taking activities and actions that will enable you not get to the peak.”
Low mortality rate with persons vaccinated
Meanwhile, the Coordinator for Severe and Critical Covid-19 cases at the Ghana Infectious Disease Center (GIDC), Dr Christian Owoo, has disclosed that persons who have had a single or both doses of covid-19 vaccines are not prone to severe illness and deaths.
He explained that per every indication, it shows that persons vaccinated have experienced low mortality.
“What we have demonstrated very clearly is that those who have been vaccinated seem to have been spared severe and critical conditions and mortality.
“I can tell you categorically that not a single person in our facility at the GIDC who has been vaccinated has died since we started vaccinating among those we have admitted.”
Dr Owoo further explained that “the population that have ended up in our ICU that has received even their first jab have been in the minority”.
Furthermore, he noted that statistics prove they are actually “way below 5% of those we have admitted in critical care and all of them have done well and gone home”.
That notwithstanding, he noted that majority of severely sick patients and those who have died “have all had absolutely no injection”.
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