COVID-19: Over 200,000 vaccinated in Ghana in 6 days

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Over 200,000 people in Ghana have been vaccinated against the deadly Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the last six days.

As of Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 8pm, a total of 202,252 people have had their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye made this known Monday afternoon at a press briefing at the Peduase Lodge where the Cabinet is on a 3-day retreat.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye indicated that the figure was likely to go up since there are some data entry challenges and that about a third of the number is still being entered.

He projected that the figure was likely to hit 300,000 when all the data is entered.

He said there has been enthusiasm with the vaccination so at some point, the personnel had to resort to collecting data on papers and get the people vaccinated and as the data is being entered electronically and synched, the figure was likely to shoot up.

The COVID-19 vaccination started in Ghana on March 2, 2021 using the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.

As of close of day March 7, a total of 202, 252 persons had been vaccinated with the Greater Accra Region having the highest number of persons – 128,088 vaccinated.

Friday the 5th of March saw the highest number of persons vaccinated with 46,780.

Giving an outlook of the disease in Ghana Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the downward decline in COVID-19 cases remains steady and that the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) continues to see a decline in recorded cases and the positivity rate among passengers.

He insisted on the need to maintain the COVID-19 safety protocols in order to maintain the gains.

He said the vaccination campaign will further contribute to a reduction in cases in Ghana.

Overview

There has been a gradual improvement of the general situation of the disease in Ghana as of now.

The active cases have declined from 8000 to less than 5000 in the last four weeks.

The daily reported cases have declined from 800 cases a day to 400 cases a day and sometimes below in the past four weeks, according to Dr Kuma-Aboagye.

The daily admissions which is a marker of the situation has dropped from about 270 people on admission daily to 150 cases in Greater Accra.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said as of Friday March 5, 2021, a total of 86,737 cases had been detected in Ghana and 929,189 (29,973/1M) tests done:

• 81,299 (93.7%) discharges / recoveries,
• 656 deaths (CFR of 0.76%),
• Total active cases are 4,782 (5.5% )

Next steps

The next steps are that Ghana will continue to pursue additional vaccines for health workers in other districts and regions to be vaccinated, he said.

He said there are plans to acquire additional Cold Chain equipment including ultra negative freezers, sustain public education on adherence to safety protocols and vaccine uptake.

Going forward, Dr Kuma Aboagye said a vaccine App would be used for appointment and pre-registration.

Below are some infographs

Source: Daily Graphic