Volta, Bono and Bono East regions now hotspots for the Delta Variant, says GHS

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stated that the Volta, Bono and Bono East Regions are emerging as new hotspots for the Coronavirus infections, especially the Delta Variant.

Director General of the GHS Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye says the Volta Region, which previously recorded 16 active cases on July 1, had recorded 532 cases as at (1 August) , while the figures for the Bono Region increased from eight cases to 200 and Bono East from three to 178.

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra on Wednesday (4 August) , the Director-General of Ghana Health Service , said the country recorded about five thousand cases alone last month.
He is attributing the driving force behind the surge in infections to disregard for the COVID-19 protocols.
Case update
At least 490 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) pushing the country’s active cases to 6,766.

The death toll has hit 854 after ten additional fatalities were recorded across the country, an update on the GHS COVID-19 dashboard reveals.

As at 1 August 2021, Ghana’s total confirmed cases stand at 106, 434 . Currently, health officials have recorded 98, 814 recoveries.

According to the Ghana Health Service, the month of July recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases among international arrivals since the airport opened on 1 September 2020.

ICU of Greater Accra Regional Hospital overstretched

Meanwhile, Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, the medical director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), has said the intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients at the facility is currently overstretched.

Dr Srofenyo explained the unit which currently has a capacity for 16 patients is also in need of more human resources to contain the situation.

It comes barely a week after President Akufo-Addo confirmed that Ghana had entered a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Tuesday (27 July), Dr Srofenyo said: “We are now receiving a higher and higher number of cases and it paints an unfortunate picture that we must be all aware of.”

“Which means that individually we must obey the protocols to make sure that we cut this wave that is trying to sweep across the country that is the long and short of it.

“For the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, it is not a constant situation, sometimes we get high number of cases, sometimes we get relatively lower number of cases, but the fact is that the average number of cases we get on daily basis has increased,” he said.

The medical director said the facility is now recording an average of about ten cases daily.

“…Among our emergencies, maybe one or two test positive, but now the situation is such that when we submit cases for testing, we get a higher number, sometimes 10…”