COVID-19: less than 15 cases recorded in Ashanti in last five weeks

Kumasi, The Ashanti Region has consistently recorded less than 15 COVID-19 cases in the last five weeks, the Regional Health Directorate has revealed.

A total of 12 cases were recorded last week in five districts with active cases currently standing at 15.

Dr Michael Rockson Adjei, the Deputy Director in charge of Public Health, who disclosed this, said all the 15 cases were receiving treatment at home.

Speaking at a media briefing in Kumasi to announce the deployment of Pfizer and Modena vaccines to various districts, Dr Adjei said the decline in cases must not give room for complacency in terms of adherence to safety protocols.

He said the fight against the disease in the Region was not over and urged the public to continue observing the preventive etiquettes.

“Thankfully, we have a tool that is a game-changer in this fight which is the COVID-19 vaccine and until more than 60 per cent of our population is vaccinated, the risk of future outbreaks remains real,” he pointed out.

“So far, we have received and deployed AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Johnson and Johnson vaccines and these vaccines have been used to vaccinate nearly 660,000 people within our region,” the Deputy Director disclosed.

He said the Directorate was seeking to vaccinate at least 3.6 million people to be able to achieve herd immunity and for that matter, it was imperative to deploy additional vaccines to achieve that target.

“We are happy to announce that the Government of Ghana through COVAX and other diplomatic arrangements has received Pfizer and Modena vaccines. The Ashanti Region has been allocated 187,800 doses of Modena and 277,108 doses of Pfizer,” he stated.

He said low vaccination coverage gave the virus the space to mutate into more deadly forms, saying that the conclusion of the third wave should be seen as an opportunity to get vaccinated to prevent a possible fourth wave.

All the vaccines in Ghana, he noted, had comparable efficacies and safety profiles and offer protection against all variants of the virus.

He reminded the public that COVID-19 vaccines protect against severe disease and deaths but not getting infected, reiterating the need for all to adhere to the safety protocols.

Source: Ghana News Agency