At least seven more persons have died of COVID-19 taking Ghana’s death toll to 698, a Ghana Health Service (GHS) update revealed.
The country’s active cases now stand at 3,701 after 243 new coronavirus cases were confirmed and added to the national tally.
As at 12 March 2021, the GHS reports that the country’s total confirmed cases increased to 88, 228 out of which 83, 829 have recovered.
So far, 48 persons are in severe condition while 18 remain critical, according to GHS. Cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are 1,273 with 1,149 recoveries.
Breakdown of regional cases:
Greater Accra Region – 49,091
Ashanti Region – 15,101
Western Region – 5,524
Eastern Region – 4,014
Central Region – 3,157
Volta Region – 2,199
Northern Region – 1,520
Bono East Region – 1,297
Upper East Region – 1,277
Bono Region – 1,135
Western North Region – 834
Ahafo Region – 679
Upper West Region – 456
Oti Region – 370
North East Region – 189
Savannah Region – 112
Africa’s COVID-19 cases to top four million
Meanwhile, Africa is poised to surpass four million COVID-19 infections since the continent’s first confirmed case in February 2020.
The year-long battle against the virus, which has also claimed over 106, 000 lives, is now receiving a crucial boost with the arrival of vaccines through the COVAX Facility – a multi-partner vaccine procurement platform.
Following a second wave which peaked at much higher numbers than Africa’s first surge, new case numbers declined for five weeks, and then plateaued during the past three weeks at around 70 000 cases per week.
In the last week, there has been a slight uptick in new cases and an upward trend in 12 countries, including in Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Cameroon.
While deaths reported have dropped by more than 50% over the past 28 days compared with the previous 28 days, the case fatality ratio or the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases is at 3.6% for the past 28 days. This is higher than the global average.
With COVID-19 vaccine deliveries picking up speed, the response to the pandemic is getting a much-awaited boost.
More than 14.6 million vaccine doses have been delivered to 22 African countries since 24 February through COVAX, an effort co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with UNICEF.
Ten countries have started vaccination using COVAX-funded vaccines, while another 10 began with vaccines procured outside the COVAX Facility – either bilaterally or through donations. More than 518 000 doses of COVAX-supplied vaccines have been administered.
Fred Dzakpata
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