34 cases of Omicron detected in travellers coming into Ghana
Ghana yet to detect community spread of Omicron COVID-19 variant
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, has confirmed that travellers from South Africa and Nigeria have mainly been responsible for the nation’s confirmed cases of the Omicron Variant of COVID-19.
After announcing the confirmation of Ghana’s first cases of the latest COVID-19 variant by the Ghana Health Service, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research on Wednesday, December 1, disclosed that some 34 travellers coming into the country have tested positive for the new variant from checks at the Kotoka International Airport.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo hosted by Kwame Sefa Kayi on Monday, December 6, 2021, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye said the recorded cases of Omicron in Ghana so far were detected mainly in travellers from neighbouring Nigeria and South Africa.
“They’ve come mainly from two countries; Nigeria and South Africa,” he stated.
He however noted that the nation’s testing regime at the Kotoka International Airport has been robust in detecting the virus allaying fears of public concerns.
He again noted that the Omicron variant is yet to be detected in communities, thus, there is no confirmed case of community spread for the new variant.
“We routinely pick samples from our labs from Tamale, Accra, Kumasi and so far, we have conducted 56. So far from our community sequencing we have not detected Omicron yet. But it is something we will continue while we prepare to deal with it,” he said.
A new heavily mutated version of the SARS-CoV 2 has recently been found as the latest variant of the virus. The variant which is known as the Omicron variant was firstly confirmed in South Africa.
The World Health Organisation has said that “It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron."
