The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed that 41 students at a school in the Greater Accra Region (name withheld) have contracted COVID-19 and are undergoing treatment.
Speaking with Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Monday (21 June), Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, a physician epidemiologist with the GHS, said the problem was detected four days ago and began with five students lodging in the same dormitory.
He said after contact tracing, 41 students tested positive for COVID-19.
“Actually, that is about four days now. Five students started showing symptoms and we identified their contacts and that was over 90 contacts. We did a test and the number of students who tested positive [was] 41.”
He added, “The 41 affected students are asymptomatic and are confined in a dormitory because most of them were dormitory mates. Only the initial five showed symptoms and are doing well now,” Asiedu-Bekoe said.
Ghana’s COVID cases
Information from the Ghana Health Service website shows that Ghana has recorded 95,059 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 93,005 recovered and discharged. The number of active cases of COVID-19 stands at 1,260, with 45 new cases and a death toll of 794.
Africa is in the middle of a full-blown third wave of COVID-19 and there is a great need for more vaccination, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Total infections have crossed the five million mark and at least seven African countries have run out of vaccines.
Third wave
“Africa needs millions more doses here and now,” WHO’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, has said.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt have recorded the most cases of the virus on the continent.
Uganda and Namibia are experiencing a deadly third wave, with dozens of fatalities recorded daily. In total, 136,030 people have succumbed to the virus in different African countries, according to WHO.
The Delta variant is in 14 African countries while the Beta variant, first detected in South Africa, is in 25 countries.
WHO says there is no clear timeline for when more vaccines will be available but there is an urgent need for them.
Elliot Nuertey
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
#GreenGhana
#WeLoveOurLand
