Ghana has recorded 34 cases of Omicron variant of the coronavirus, a report form the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research has said.
This comes days after the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, debunked claims of the ‘Omicron’ variant in Ghana.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye on Wednesday 1st December 2021, revealed that 2 cases of the ‘Omicron’ variant have been detected in Ghana.
According to him, although the omicron variant has not been detected in any community, there is the potential of a community spread if someone has omicron and it’s incubating since it will not be detected at the airport.
“There is the emergence of the new variant and I must say, through the robust testing at the Kotoka International Airport, Ghana has detected the Omicron variant already and the cases have come mainly from Nigeria and South Africa. The very first case that was detected during our sequencing was on the 21 of November”, Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye told media men.
A new report from Noguchi says the case count of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is now at 34.
According to Noguchi, the samples were taken from 120 returning travellers who entered Ghana.
Noguchi has since called on the general public to strictly continue to adhere to all covid-19 prevention protocols
Meanwhile, GHS has declared December a month of vaccination against COVID-19.
The campaign will target specific venues and groups and that Unvaccinated persons will be denied entry into sports stadia, restaurants, beaches, among others.
“We are declaring December as a month of vaccination and it will be launched by the Minister on Tuesday. This mandate will be applicable in January and this mandate will become effective,” Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye explained.
He noted that by the December campaign Security personnel, staff of tertiary and secondary institutions, commercial drivers and bus conductors, government workers, the various arms of government and health workers are all expected to be vaccinated in December.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu | [email protected]