A Clinical Microbiologist and a lecturer at the Department of Medical Diagnostics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Michael Owusu has hinted of a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Speaking on the rate of infection in the country, he projected that the number of COVID-19 infections in the country will increase in the month of January particularly.
“There is a lot that we need to do. I think a lot has happened and I expect that in January a lot more people will become more infected. If you look at the numbers, now it has been almost stagnant around 1000 which means that the virus is already in a saturated point”.
Dr. Michael Owusu
However, Dr. Owusu stated that he is expecting a drop in cases of new infection at the latter part of the month of January despite the increase in case counts. He explained that as at the time, the infections would have reduce because of the intense in transmission that has already taken place in the early weeks.
Also commenting on the infection rate, Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare disclosed that a meeting is currently ongoing to come up with a protocol for booster doses. Dr. Nsiah-Asare averred that the booster doses forms part of efforts to tackle the virus.
“We are having a meeting to come up with a protocol for booster doses. This will be announced in due time”.
Dr. Nsiah-Asare
Dr. Nsiah-Asare iterated government’s quest to inoculate at least twenty million people.
“We want to vaccinate at least 20 million people. The government will bring in lots of vaccines for the people”.
Dr. Nsiah-Asare
No vaccination, no access commences
This forms part of government’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through vaccination. Other measures are also being implemented such as the directive to disallow persons without vaccination card from accessing government buildings which has commenced today, Tuesday January 4, 2021.
All government and public agencies, including Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), are to strictly enforce a ‘no vaccination, no entry’ policy at their premises. The staff of those organisations, as well as visitors, will be expected to show proof of vaccination by producing their vaccination cards before being allowed into those premises.
According to the Ministry of Health, the new directive forms part of measures at controlling the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and help improve the vaccination exercise in the country.
COVID-19 case count
At least 1,084 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) pushing the country’s active cases to 13,025.
The death toll recorded across the country is still at 1,309 according to an update on the GHS COVID-19 dashboard.
Ghana’s total confirmed cases stand at 147,203. Currently, health officials have recorded 132, 869 recoveries.
So far, 22 persons are in severe condition whiles 4 remain critical, according to GHS. Cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are 5,532 with 3,839 recoveries. The Greater Accra Region leads the chart with new infections with the Ashanti Region following.
