Ghanaians encouraged to observe COVID–19 protocols during Christmas
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has encouraged Ghanaians to observe the COVId-19 protocols during the festive season following surge in cases in countries where Ghana receives significant number of visitors.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director General of the GHS, said countries such as Japan in the last 28 days had recorded about 3.2 million cases, US, 1.57 million, France 1.49 million, China almost one million, Italy 0.85 million and Germany 0.85 cases.
He said there was a high risk of people contracting and spreading the disease during the yuletide, thus the need for everyone to protect themselves.
The Director General said this at a media briefing over the weekend to provide update on COVID-19 and the festive season.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said, “This updated guide on COVID-19 protection in Ghana is due to the Christmas festivities and the attendant risk factors of expected large gatherings, increased travel, movements and brisk activities that may be experienced during the period.”
He said Ghana currently had four active cases as of December 16, 2022, but cautioned against complacency, saying the country began its COVID-19 journey with two cases.
“Ghana currently has four active cases of the virus as of December 16, 2022. But that is not to mean that there is no risk of the disease. Let us not be complacent with the four, we started with two in 2020, so you never know how it goes,” he added.
The Director General said the country currently had no severe or critical cases and had not recorded any deaths for a while now.
He said though Ghana had seen a significant decline in the last three months with a low active number of cases, there was the need to ward against a new variant as it was experienced towards Christmas in 2021 when the Omicron variant was detected.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said Ghana had administered over 22 million vaccines as of December 18, 2022, and that more was expected at the end of the fifth national vaccination campaign, stressing, the country was yet to achieve herd immunity.
He said though the disease burden was now low, there was a higher rate of disease transmission among persons when in enclosed spaces and called on mosques, churches, night clubs, cinema theatres and others to allow for proper ventilation at gatherings and not use air-conditions.
The Director General also advised the public to always adhere to the safety protocols and ensure that they were vaccinated if they must attend any gatherings to make sure they were protected.
Ghana has confirmed a total of 171,000 cases, 169,000 recoveries and 1461 recorded deaths.
Source: GNA