Let’s avoid ‘variant of concern’

In many communities, people have become tired not only with putting on face masks but also adhering to all other protocol meant to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While it is becoming increasingly rare to see people in their face masks, most of the Veronica buckets and other handwashing apparatus placed at vantage areas on office and institutional premises are either defective or have no water and/or soap, except for those at a few public institutions, such as the banks and hotels.

Recent checks by the Daily Graphic have further shown a worrying trend where the small number of people who are seen wearing face masks rather prefer to leave the masks below their chins, thereby defeating the purpose for which they are worn.

After being forced by security personnel to keep to the protocol on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that it is now time for us all to take our destiny into our own hands by adhering to the protocol, since the virus is still with us, and in its deadliest forms.

According to a statement dated June 22, 2021 and signed by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, as of now, Ghana had detected six Delta variants of the COVID-19 from all samples taken at the ports of entry between April and June 2021.

Also, the Head of the West Africa Centre for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens at the University of Ghana, Prof. Gordon Awendare, said Delta was detected in two travellers who arrived at the Kotoka International Airport from different countries in June.

Although the two were put on quarantine until they tested negative, their cases should make us stay alert and not lower our guard, as we are currently doing.

We must all be worried and continue to strictly observe the protocol to stay safe because the Indian strain (Delta) has been labelled by the World Health Organisation as the "variant of concern".

Although originally isolated in India, it has now spread across the world and it is now the dominant strain in the United Kingdom and several African countries, especially in East Africa. If we continue to be nonchalant, it will not be long before we also experience the Delta variant in our communities.

The Daily Graphic cautions everyone to be watchful because the Delta variant is more transmissible than the original variant, which means that if the original COVID-19 strain infected 10 people for each infected person, the Delta may infect about 17 or 18 people.

We shudder to think that if we do not exercise vigilance, as we did when the COVID-19 first hit the country in March 2020, we may be seeing in our communities not only the Delta strain but also other variants classified by the WHO as ‘variants of concern’, such as Alpha, first experienced in the United Kingdom in September 2020, Beta from South Africa and Gamma from Brazil.

Although officials at our ports of entry are doing their best to arrest the COVID-19 in whatever form it comes before it causes any havoc in the country, we cannot rely on only the ports to keep us safe. We also need to do our part to stay away from the virus and keep it out completely.

We urge citizens who think that the virus is no longer here to revise their notes and adhere to the safety protocol.

We must also continue to drum home and enforce the restrictions on public gatherings, especially with regard to funerals, so we are not overtaken by events.

We must be committed to bringing the number of cases to zero, as the President has espoused many times in his updates, and get masked up.

Face masks are now more affordable, with five averagely going for GH¢1, so we have no excuse not to wear them when we are out of our homes. Let’s also continue to wash our hands religiously with soap under running water.