Despite government’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, 1,158 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) pushing the country’s active cases to 5,112.
According to data by the health service, aside the surge in active cases in the country, the death toll has hit 1,274 after three additional fatalities were recorded across the country.
The update on the GHS COVID-19 dashboard revealed that Ghana’s total confirmed cases currently stand at 136,436 with health officials recording 130,050 recoveries. GHS indicated that so far, 15 persons are in severe condition with no critical case and cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are 4,145 with 3,350 recoveries.
The GHS data touching on the vaccination exercise indicated that Ghana has so far administered 7,187,607. The data shows that persons who have received at least one dose currently stand at 5,181,763 and those fully vaccinated currently totaling 2,005,844.
GHS on COVID-19 measures
Ahead of the Christmas festivities, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in a bid to prevent a fourth wave of COVID-19 revised the existing safety protocols for events during the festive season.
GHS in line with this urged event organizers to include health officials in the planning stages of their events. The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye explaining this stated that this is to ensure that there’s strict compliance with the safety protocols.
He intimated that the capacity for indoor events must not go beyond 25% of the existing capacity of that facility to ensure social distancing, stating that the indoor area is where the spread is highest.
Director-General of the GHS intimated that it will ramp up efforts to get a greater number of residents vaccinated. He stated that the Service will continue to engage Ghanaians more to ensure smooth administration of the vaccines. However, the cases keep surging despite the measures and this has even forced some institutions to close up due to the spread.
MTN to close service centres to stem COVID-19 spread
Following the increase in cases, MTN Ghana has announced that its Service Centres across the country will be closed for the Holiday Season from the December 29, 2021 to January 3, 2022.
The closure of the Service Centres is part of broader measures taken by the business to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic especially in the wake of the new Omicron variant, which has been proven to have a higher transmissibility rate.
The mobile network provider averred that the business will use the opportunity to encourage customers to use its digital channels during the period of the closure of the shops.
In addition to these channels, field teams made up of retail vendors and MoMo agents across the country will be operating and will provide additional support.
MTN Ghana encouraged all Ghanaians to observe the appropriate health protocols outlined by the Government, Ghana Health Service and the World Health Organization (WHO).
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