20/7/2021. The Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has strongly advised Ghanaians to adhere to all public health measures, that have been spelt out since the onset of the pandemic in order to prevent a third wave likely to be caused by a more infective and deadlier variant (s) of the SARS-COV-2.
He made this call at a press briefing in Kumasi following a high-level GHS Senior Managers’ Meeting on COVID-19.
The meeting brought together various Senior Managers from the Service at both the national and regional levels, as well as the WHO Country Representative, Dr Francis Kasolo, to discuss the Covid-19 situation locally and globally, as well as the challenges that have been faced so far, and to consider possible measures to control the recent COVID-19 spike.
The complete disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols, issues with case management and contact tracing, testing and vaccine hesitancy, and disinformation were all identified as challenges.
According to the Director-General, evidence from other nations that have experienced the third wave shows that the cases are frequently twice or three times as high as those in the first wave. The bulk of cases in Ghana currently come from the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, with a few isolated occurrences from the Volta and Eastern regions. Other dangers mentioned include outbreaks in neighbouring countries, inadequate vaccination coverage, the emergence of the delta variant, and outbreaks in some second cycle schools.
He indicated that as a fallout from the meeting, the Service has come out with various strategies to prevent a spike in the near future, including the following: mobilizing opinion leaders, religious leaders, traditional leaders and key influencers as well as implementing contextualized risk communication messages for locations such as schools, workplaces etc; engaging other stakeholders to ensure that people adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols; scaling up COVID-19 testing capacity and deploying antigen testing as part of rapid response in outbreak-prone areas such as schools, workplaces, and Points of Entry (POEs).
Other strategies to be implemented include beefing up the surveillance system with contact tracing, quarantine, and isolation, as well as expanding case management capabilities, including oxygen provision, enhancing capacity to handle diverse brands of vaccines, particularly those that require ultracold storage facilities, and vaccinating more people, with a focus on hotspots, the elderly, and those with underlying disease conditions.
The use of rapid diagnostic tests at all POEs, monitor cases arriving in the country and institute appropriate measures were recommended.
Ghana was hit by the pandemic on 12th March 2020 with only 2 cases. With over 1.3 million tests conducted so far, the country’s current data indicates 102,103 confirmed cases with 4,521 of the cases still active and 823 deaths.
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Source: Public Relations Unit, GHS
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