Seven more succumb to COVID-19, death toll now 705

Ghana has recorded seven more COVID-19 fatalities, pushing the death toll to 705, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said on Thursday.

The latest update from the GHS indicate that 47 people were in severe condition with 18 in critical condition.

Additionally 193 new cases of infections have been recorded across the country from tests conducted as of March 13, 2021.

However, 266 more people have recovered since the last update, down-sizing the active cases to 3,621 from a previous 3,701 as of Tuesday, March 16.

The country’s total recoveries and discharges now stand at 84,095, while the active cases are being managed at treatment sites and isolation centres across the country, with some under home management.

Ghana has recorded a total of 88,421 cases of the virus since it confirmed its first two cases in March 2020.

Out of the total confirmed cases, 30,864 were from the General Surveillance; 56,281 from the Enhanced Contact Tracing, and 1,276 from international travellers disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) since it was reopened on September 1, 2020.

Also, 955,937 tests had been conducted out of which 291,040 were from routine surveillance, 477,038 from contact tracing, and 187,859 from international travellers arriving through the KIA. The positivity rate is 9.3 percent.

Currently all 16 regions have an active case. The Greater Accra Region remains the hotspot, accounting for almost 50 percent (1,747) of active cases, with a cumulative case count of 49,182.

The Ashanti Region has 320 active cases with a case count of 15,126, followed by the Western Region with 175 active cases and a cumulative of 5,545.

Others are: Eastern Region, 149 active cases and 4,014 cumulative; Central Region 295 active and 3,157 cumulative; Volta Region, 184 active and 2,218 cumulative; Bono East Region 54 active and 1,297 cumulative, Northern Region 113 active and 1,520 cumulative, and Upper East Region 66 active and 1,277 cumulative.

The rest are Western North Region 39 active cases, 834 cumulative, Bono Region 131 active, 1,163 cumulative, Ahafo Region, Eight active and 679 cumulative, Oti Region 47 active and 376 cumulative, Upper West 93 active and 456 cumulative, Savannah Region, 15 active and 112 cumulative, and North East 64 active and 189 cumulative.

There are also 121 active cases from international travelers at the KIA.

Ghana began her mass vaccination exercise on March 2, this year after taking delivery of some 600,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines on February 24.

Government said it hoped to vaccinate about 20 million of the population to stem the spread of the virus.