There has been a decline in daily COVID-19 infections and cumulative active cases in the country.

From over 8,000 cases at the height of the current wave, which started in mid-July, this year, active cases had reduced to 4,358 as of Friday, September 16, 2021.

Cumulatively, the country has recorded 124,404 cases of the virus, with 1,111 deaths.

Reacting to this development in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, attributed the decline in new infections and the overall national burden to, among others, the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to some hotspot regions.

“Some of the interventions put in place to control the virus, such as contact tracing, case management, surveillance and risk communication, adherence to the protocols, especially at the workplace, and the vaccination exercise were scaled-up.

“We were doing well until the new Delta variant, which spreads faster, set in because our adherence to the protocols dropped to about five per cent,” he said.

According to the minister, anytime there was a reduction in the number of cases, people usually let down their guard on adherence to the preventive protocols, thereby eroding the gains made.

Mr. Agyeman-Manu, therefore, appealed to the public, including those who had been vaccinated, to adhere strictly to the preventive protocols, such as face masking, social distancing and hand hygiene, at all times.

“The government is looking forward to zero new infections on a daily basis for about six months. That is when those of us at the forefront will heave sighs of relief,” he added.

Herd immunity

The minister said the country’s target of reaching at least a 60 per cent herd immunity by vaccinating 20 million of its population by the close of this year was on course.

He said overall, the country had received a little over 3.2 million vaccines since February 2021, adding: “We have stocks close to two million yet to be deployed as we make the effort to scale up.”

According to Mr. Agyeman-Manu, the use of vaccines had been identified as one of the major complementary measures to curb the spread of the virus.

He, however, said the vaccines would make the maximum impact if they were complemented with other approved safety protocols.

Background

Ghana’s target is to reach herd immunity by vaccinating at least 20 million out of the current estimated 30 million people, as announced by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his 23rd and 24th presidential addresses to the nation on COVID-19.

In those addresses, he also assured the public that the vaccines that were being deployed in the country were effective and safe.

In line with that, the government began the vaccination exercise on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 as part of measures to stop the spread of the virus.