The Service targets to deliver at least 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines in this nationwide campaign to all persons 18 years and above, as part of periodic intensification of COVID-19 vaccination.

A statement signed by the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said vaccination teams would be available at various hospitals, clinics and health centres to deliver the COVID-19 vaccines to the target population.

It said the team would move from house-to-house, market centres, churches, mosques, workplaces and many others to make the vaccines readily available to all eligible persons.

The Director-General said the COVID-19 vaccine was now a routine vaccine for adults and available at all vaccination centres across the country, adding that although the country had made some significant progress towards vaccinating the target population, there were still segments of the population that had received only partial doses or had not received any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and so remained vulnerable to the disease.

He said children below 15 years of age who were not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination per the national policy also remained vulnerable and needed to be indirectly protected through the high vaccination uptake by the adult population in ensuring herd immunity.

The GHS indicated that as at 28 June 2024, a total of 29,191,110 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to the population and about 56 per cent of the targeted population had completed the primary series.

“As the country strives to increase the population’s immunity and break transmission of the disease, within the contest of gradual increase in cases, it is imperative that all unvaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals prevent any potential surge in the disease incidence and associated ill health and or deaths,” the statement said.

“The recent increased number of COVID-19 cases in April and May, 2024, in Ghana is an ample evidence that the disease is not over, we are, therefore, calling on all stakeholders to support this effort by making sure that all eligible persons avail themselves to be vaccinated with the primary series and the boosters to ensure maximum protection” it said.

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The national campaign, which will end on May 9, is aimed at increasing the immunisation of Ghanaians against COVID-19, by vaccinating people with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Eligible individuals for vaccination include those aged 18 years and older, who are yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, individuals who have not completed their vaccination series and those who have not received booster doses.

It is the 10th round of the national vaccination and has the theme: “Protect Yourself, Protect Your Family, Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19”.

Speaking at a press briefing in Tamale on the situational update of COVID-19 in the region, the Northern Regional Director of Health, Dr Abdulai Abukari, said it was important for people of the region to take part in the exercise.

He said the region had undertaken nine rounds of National COVID-19 immunisation and 18 rounds of Global Communities’ Supported Regional COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

“The vaccination will take place at health centres and at temporary posts set up in schools, markets, churches, bus stations and even house-to-house in your neighborhood to vaccinate all eligible persons”.

Dr Abukari urged Ghanaians, who were yet to be vaccinated, to do so to build immunity against the disease, saying that COVID-19 could escalate in the accumulation of a sizeable population of non-immune individuals.

He said 293 teams of vaccinators, volunteers and 67 supervisors at different levels had been recruited and trained to undertake the vaccination exercise for the campaign period.

The Northern Regional Director of Health said even though the national response to the pandemic had gained significant improvement over the past four years, cases were recorded globally, underscoring the need for Ghanaians to be vaccinated.

He said the COVID-19 vaccines were safe and free of charge, adding that all one needed was to present any national identification card as proof of citizenship.

Mr Abukari said contrary to the myths against the potency of COVID-19 vaccination, vaccines had helped the world to put the pandemic under control and urged members of the public to receive the vaccines and encourage others to do so.

On his part, the Northern Regional Coordinator of Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Fuseini Mahama, said the region’s management of the disease was commendable.

He said, “The response to COVID-19 in the Northern Region is implemented within the framework of the national response and coordinated by a multi-sectoral Regional Public Health Emergency Management Committee (RPHEMC) under the chairmanship of the Regional Minister.”

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The exercise to take place between May 7 and May 10, 2024, according to GHS, is in response to escalating infections at various healthcare facilities.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe who disclosed this explained that, the exercise will be targeted in parts of the Greater Accra where cases have been recorded so far.

“We are getting a few cases reported in parts of Accra and a few other regions. And it brings to bear the fact that Ghanaians need to be vaccinated and so on the 4th to the 10th of May, we are going to do a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign and we want to urge all Ghanaians to be part of the exercise.

“We plan to do about four or five before the end of the year. The thinking is that we need to get the necessary population immunity that will help us minimize the risk of getting infections in the country,” he explained in a report by Accra-based Citi News.

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe has urged strict adherence to safety measures and protocols as he expressed worry over the easy transmission.

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The bizarre case is documented in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The shots were bought and given privately within the space of 29 months.

The man appears to have suffered no ill effects, researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg say.

‘Very interested’

“We learned about his case via newspaper articles,” Dr Kilian Schober, from the university’s microbiology department, said.

“We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so.”

The man provided fresh blood and saliva samples.

The researchers also tested some frozen blood samples of his that had been stored in recent years.

Dr Schober said: “We were able to take blood samples ourselves when the man received a further vaccination during the study at his own insistence.

“We were able to use these samples to determine exactly how the immune system reacts to the vaccination.”

Evidence for 130 of the jabs was collected by the public prosecutor of the city of Magdeburg, who opened an investigation with the allegation of fraud, but no criminal charges were brought.

Covid vaccines cannot cause infection but can teach the body how to fight the disease.
Immune system

Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines work by showing the body’s cells a bit of genetic code from the virus.

The immune system should then recognise and know how to fight Covid should they encounter it for real.

Dr Schober worried hyper-stimulating the immune system with repeated doses might have fatigued certain cells.

But the researchers found no evidence of this in the 62-year-old.

And there was no sign that he had ever been infected with Covid.
‘Favoured approach’

The researchers said: “Importantly, we do not endorse hyper-vaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.”

And the results of their tests on the 62-year-old were insufficient for making far-reaching conclusions, let alone recommendations for the general public.

“Current research indicates that a three-dose vaccination, coupled with regular top-up vaccines for vulnerable groups, remains the favoured approach,” they say on the university’s website.

“There is no indication that more vaccines are required.”

The NHS says Covid vaccines are normally given seasonally but some people with a severely weakened immune system may need additional protection at other times – and it will contact those whose NHS record suggests may be eligible.

Covid vaccines can have side effects. A common one is a sore arm from the injection.

JN.1 has been found in many countries around the world, including India, China, UK and the United States.

The risk to the public is currently low and current vaccines continue to offer protection, the WHO says.

But it warns Covid and other infections could rise this winter.

Respiratory viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and childhood pneumonia are also on the rise in the northern hemisphere.

The virus which causes Covid is constantly changing over time and sometimes this leads to new variants developing.

Omicron has been the globally dominant variant for some time.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking a number of variants of interest linked to Omicron – including JN.1 – although none of them are deemed to be concerning.

But JN.1 is spreading quickly in many corners of the world.

It is currently the fastest-growing variant in the United States, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, accounting for 15-29% of infections.

The UK Health Security Agency says JN.1 currently makes up around 7% of positive Covid tests analysed in a lab. It said it would continue to monitor all available data on this and other variants.

Winter surge

JN.1 is spreading fast in all regions, probably because it has an additional mutation in the spike protein compared to the BA.2.86 variant from which it’s descended.

“It is anticipated that this variant may cause an increase in Sars-Cov-2 [coronavirus] cases amid a surge of infections of other viral and bacterial infections, especially in countries entering the winter season,” the WHO’s risk assessment says.

There is still limited evidence on how capable JN.1 is of getting round the immunity offered by vaccines, the WHO says.

There are no reports of people becoming more ill with this variant than previous ones.

But more studies are needed to work out the health impact, the WHO says, as the number of countries reporting data on people admitted to hospital with Covid has dramatically reduced.

To prevent infections and severe disease, the WHO advises:

• wear a mask in crowded, enclosed areas
• cover up coughs and sneezes
• clean your hands regularly
• stay up to date with Covid and flu vaccinations, especially if vulnerable
• stay home if ill
• get tested if you have symptoms

The 72-year-old, who is vaccinated and has received boosters, will stay at home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where she and President Joe Biden spent part of the weekend.

The president tested negative for the virus after her diagnosis.

He then travelled back to Washington DC on his own on Monday night.

Mr Biden, 80, “will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms”, a spokeswoman said.

His wife’s positive test comes ahead of a busy week for the president.

He is due to travel to the G20 summit in India on Thursday, before a scheduled visit to Hanoi on Sunday for a one-day visit where he will meet Vietnamese leaders.

No changes have been made to his foreign travel plans at this time, an administration official told CNN on Monday.

The pair spent time together over the weekend, including a visit to Florida on Saturday where they viewed the recovery efforts following Hurricane Idalia.

Mrs Biden last tested positive for Covid in August 2022, a few weeks after Mr Biden did so. Both recovered without experiencing major symptoms.

Cases are surging across the US after new variants emerged over the summer, but remain far below the pandemic-era peak.

According to court documents, as reported by the Office of Public Affairs of the Department of Justice, Kofi Sarfo, 58, of Las Vegas, is a medical doctor and the owner and president of Vista Medical Associates, a Las Vegas medical practice. His wife, Rose Sarfo, 54, also of Las Vegas, is the office manager and treasurer of Vista Medical Associates.

Kofi and Rose Sarfo allegedly conspired to submit false loan applications to obtain EIDL and PPP pandemic relief funds. Rather than spending the money on their business as represented in the loan applications, the Sarfos allegedly used at least some of the funds to purchase stocks and cryptocurrency.

The Sarfos are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. In addition, Kofi Sarfo is charged with one count of money laundering.

If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for each count of wire fraud. Kofi Sarfo also faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the money laundering charge.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans of the FBI Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Las Vegas Field Office is investigating the case while Trial Attorney Kyle Crawford of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.

In May 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.

The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

Credit: US Department of Justice / Office of Public Affairs

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Parliament in 2020 passed the Imposition of Restrictions Act to allow restrictions provided for in Article 21 of Ghana’s 1992 constitution to be imposed.

The said constitutional provisions allow restrictions to be put in place in the interest of defence, public safety, public health or the running of essential services, on the movement or residence within Ghana of any person or persons generally, or any class of persons.

This law allowed government to issue various instruments while health authorities managed the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the law that allowed the President to restrict public gatherings, shut down schools, and impose measures to guide religious gatherings among others.

Law Professor and Human Rights advocate Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua along with eight others dragged government to the Supreme Court contending the said law was unconstitutional.

He contended it unlawfully empowered the President to unilaterally suspend fundamental human rights and freedoms in the whole or a part of Ghana, excluding the special role of the Chief Justice and the Superior Court of Judicature in managing or regulating the suspension of fundamental human rights and freedoms in the whole or a part of Ghana; and excluding the role of Parliament in managing or regulating the suspension of fundamental human rights and freedoms in the whole or a part of Ghana.

A seven-member panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse agreed with this view.

The court ruled that the Imposition of Restrictions Act is inconsistent with the Constitution.

He, therefore, announced that the said law is struck down as unconstitutional, null and void. The court’s full reasons will be made available on June 7.

The case was heard by Justices Jones Dotse, Nene Amegatcher, Nii Ashie Kotey, Lovelace Johnson, Amadu Tanko, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu and Emmanuel Kulendi.

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Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who announced this, said the hearing will commence on February 7, 2023.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the Ajuamko Anyan-Essiam MP said the hearing follows an engagement with the Health and Finance Committees.

“At that point, we will pay due diligence to the duties given to us by the people of Ghana,” he added.

It is expected to be the first meeting of the Committee as Parliament resumes sitting on the same day.

This comes on the back of the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu’s audit report on the covid-19 expenditure between March 2020 to June 2022.

The audit report cited many infractions by the Health Ministry with regards to how money was spent at the peak of the disease.

Payment of a total of US$607,419.02 out of US$4,049,460.12 for procurement of 26 ambulances which were not delivered, payment of unapproved ¢151,500 by the Information Ministry to its own staff as covid insurance, payment of $80m worth of vaccines by government which was not delivered were some of the infractions cited in the report.

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In addition, over a million doses of vaccines received at the National Cold Room and issued to user facilities also expired in the various Districts and Regions.

The report said the Programmes Manager explained that the 1,022,348 vaccines were donated vaccines that were delivered to them close to expiry.

However, it did not state emphatically if the renegotiation would facilitate the recovery of the outstanding balance of $81.87 million for the unsupplied vaccines.

In a statement issued by the ministry in Accra last Monday, it said COVID-19 was not over and the government would still require some vaccines for continuous vaccination as some countries around the world were experiencing fresh waves.

Finds

The Auditor-General’s report found that the Ministry of Health on behalf of the government paid $120.19 million to UNICEF/AVAT for the supply of vaccines.

However, 5,109,600.00 doses of vaccines valued at $38.32 million were supplied to the National Cold Room, leaving a difference of $81.87 million with UNICEF/AVAT.

The Auditor-General, consequently, recommended that the Chief Director of the ministry renegotiates and recovers the outstanding balance.

That, according to the Auditor-General, must be done immediately to ensure the amount was recovered to the state.

Why delay?

The ministry attributed the delay in receiving the vaccines to unexpected vaccine hesitancy, cold chain storage challenges, spontaneous donations, as well as manufacturer’s storage difficulties.

“The ministry in June 2022 was compelled to agree on a delivery schedule for the remaining 11,052 million doses to be delivered from June to December 2022.

“According to the schedule, 1.6 million doses were to be delivered from June to December 2022 to complete the allocation,” the statement said.

However, it said the process was delayed because of the afore-mentioned challenges. Currently, the ministry requested and had received the June allocation which was delivered in January 2023.

“In the meantime, the ministry continues to work with the AVAT for a possible review of the contract and would want to assure the public of our commitment to work in the supreme interest of the public.

“For Ghana, 16,918,600 doses of the Jansen vaccines were allocated, and AVAT was able to deliver these vaccines periodically per agreed delivery schedule, as and when we needed them,” the statement added.

“The reason for the agreed number of doses was as a result of the national policy of attaining herd immunity by immunising 21 million people, avoid wastage, expiration and the difficulties in getting access to vaccines at the time,” the ministry said.

The ministry, however, gave an assurance that efforts were in place to review the contract.

“Currently, the ministry requested and has received the June allocation which was delivered in January 2023. In the meantime, the ministry continues to work with the AVAT for a possible review of the contract, and would want to assure the public of our commitment to work in the supreme interest of the public.”

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AVAT contract

AVAT was created to enhance access to COVID-19 vaccines as part of the African Union’s Strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a central entity for the negotiation, procurement and payment for vaccines and to act as the interface between AU member states and the vaccine manufacturers.

Under AVAT, countries were allocated quantities of vaccines based on the population and ability to deploy the vaccines on prescribed schedules.

“It must be noted that the AVAT protocol required upfront payment by countries for scheduled deliveries such that, soon as any such volumes of vaccines are available for delivery, payment is due through the AVAT arrangement,” the ministry added.

According to him, the recent report from the Auditor-General’s Office is proof of transparency and professionalism.

“But if you remember, the same Auditor-General when we said Domelevo should go, people were castigating this man that he’ll come and do the bid of government.

“And I’m expecting Piesie (NDC member) and his colleagues (NDC) to praise him that all they said about him were untrue. Today it has come to the reality that he’s working professionally as an Auditor-General general,” he said.

Speaking on Adom TV’s Badwam Show, he advised that matters of corruption and other allegations should not be politicised.

Mr Nartey explained that is the cause for unresolved allegations and crimes by political parties.

”I’ve always been saying that one of the things we’ve been doing that’s not helping us as a country is to bring politics into everything. And when we do that we see the end results.

“Look this Auditor-General’s report let’s pressume that there was any wrongdoing. We make it an NDC and NPP affair and that’s all. But we need to go into details,” he urged.

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To him, the Auditor-General’s report on the use of state funds is proactive.

He also praised the government for its efforts on being transparent to Ghanaians on the use of state funds.

 The Auditor-General in a report has disclosed that a total of ¢21,844,189,185.24 was mobilized for the fight against the pandemic. 

However, out of this amount, only ¢11,750,683,059.11 was spent on curbing the spread of the virus. 

The A-G said the rest, per its records, was used for budget support.

In the same report, the Auditor-General reported that $80m worth of vaccines paid for by government has not been delivered. 

According to the A-G, government paid over $120m to the United Nations Children’s Fund and African Vaccine Acquisition Trust but only $38m worth was delivered. 

The service has also predicted a surge in active cases due to the change in weather as recorded in some countries.

The Director-General, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, made the disclosure at a press conference as he assures of their readiness to contain it.

“There is also a potential for a new variant just like we had during the last Christmas -the Omicron variant.

“So, we also have to look at that as a risk factor, and so we need to be alert and make sure that we sustain the gains made so far, so we don’t go back to where we were many months ago,” he announced.

In view of this, he has urged the citizenry to take advantage of the ongoing mass vaccination exercise which he said a little over one million people have participated so far out of the expected 1.4 million.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye urged opinion leaders to entreat their people to take the vaccines.

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GHS from Wednesday, December 14, re-launched the vaccination for citizens who are yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of the Christmas festivities.

The latest vaccination drive themed Protect Yourself, Protect Your Family, Get Vaccinated Against Covid-19, will end today, December 19, 2022.

The Deputy Minister for Gender and Social Protection nominee, Francisca Oteng-Mensah, has denied any wrongdoing in the procurement of sanitisers during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Kwabre East MP was accused of a conflict of interest as the Board Chairperson of the National Youth Authority (NYA) in 2020.

She was accused of using her influence to supervise the board to pay GH¢700,000 to Adonko Company – a subsidiary of the Angel Group of Companies which she is a director and shareholder.

But the nominee says she had no idea that the NYA Board was working towards purchasing sanitisers from Adonko Company.

“As the Chairperson, I was not a member of the Entity Tender Committee and so I wasn’t on the committee at that time. Also, I had no idea they were purchasing from Adonko Company Limited at that time.

“It got to a time when we were at the peak of Covid-19 season. In fact, if we all recall, getting access to sanitisers was a huge challenge and so everybody including members of Parliament were struggling to go anywhere that they could get sanitisers to give to their people,” she told the Committee,” she told the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday.

Ms Oteng-Mensah, who maintained she is not guilty of the allegations of conflict of interest, justified the sanitisers were also purchased from other companies.

“At that point, in that state of emergency, nothing of that sort came to me and so I find it difficult to accept that there is any conflict of interest.

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“It was afterwards that I got to know that they even purchased some number of sanitisers from Adonko Company Limited. And they didn’t just purchase from Adonko Company Limited, per my checks, they also purchased from other companies,” she justified.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is currently investigating Ms Francisca Oteng-Mensah on the allegations.

She has, however, expressed hope the Commission will exonerate her of any wrongdoing though she admitted the company belongs to her father and she is a shareholder.

Play audio above:

The risk of contagion is mainly to those who handle cadavers, like pathologists, medical examiners and health care workers, and in settings like hospitals and nursing homes, where many deaths may occur.

While transmission from corpses is not likely to be a major factor in the pandemic, bereaved family members should exercise caution, experts said.

“In some countries, people who have died of Covid-19 are being left unattended or taken back to their homes,” said Hisako Saitoh, a researcher at Chiba University in Japan who published two recent studies on the phenomenon.

“Therefore, I think that it is a knowledge that the general public should be aware of,” he wrote in an email.

Several studies have found traces of infectious virus in corpses for as long as 17 days after death. Dr. Saitoh and his colleagues went further, showing that dead bodies may carry significant amounts of infectious virus, and that dead hamsters can transmit it to live cage mates.

The research has not yet been vetted for publication in a scientific journal, but outside experts said that the studies were well-done and the results compelling.

The risk of a live patient spreading the coronavirus is far greater than the potential transmission from corpses, Dr. Saitoh and other scientists emphasized.

If infection from corpses accounted for a large number of cases, “we would have noticed, right?” said Vincent Munster, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Still, “If there is an infectious virus, there is always a risk for transmission,” he continued. “I don’t think it’s something which is often addressed.”

In the United States, bodies usually are embalmed soon after death or cremated. But in the Netherlands, where Dr. Munster grew up, as in many parts of the world, family members may wash and dress the bodies.

In July 2020, the Japanese government urged bereaved family members to keep their distance from dead bodies and refrain from touching them — or even viewing them. Officials also recommended sealing corpses in impermeable bags and cremating them within 24 hours.

The guidelines were revised in May 2022 to allow family members to see loved ones who died of Covid, but “in an appropriately infection-controlled hospital room.”

Those guidelines in part prompted Dr. Saitoh to explore what happens to the virus in the body after death.

He and his colleagues looked at samples from the noses and the lungs of 11 people who had died of Covid. The researchers found that high amounts of virus persisted in six of the 11 corpses, even 13 days after death.

“It was surprising that infectious titers were preserved at the same high levels as in the clinical patients,” Dr. Saitoh wrote. “What was most surprising, however, were the results of the animal experiments.”

In those experiments, he and his colleagues found that hamsters that died within a few days of becoming infected with the coronavirus could transmit it to other animals. In people, too, contagion is most likely when a patient dies soon after infection, when the levels of virus in the body are very high, the researchers said.

The team found more virus in the lungs of human corpses than in the upper respiratory tract. That suggests that those who perform autopsies should be particularly careful when handling the lungs, experts said. Dr. Saitoh pointed to a study from Thailand describing a forensic practitioner who appeared to have been infected during work.

Gases that build up after death can be expelled through any orifice in the body, including the mouth, and may carry infectious virus, the researchers said. Embalming or practicing so-called “angel care” — a Japanese ritual in which the mouth, nose, ears and anus are plugged with cotton pads — prevented transmission, they found.

Contagious corpses are not without precedent. Most famously, funeral and burial practices have triggered large outbreaks of Ebola virus in Africa.

But the coronavirus is very different, noted Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Up to 70 percent of those infected with Ebola die, compared with about 3 percent of those diagnosed with Covid-19. And the Ebola virus floods every part of the body, so the risk of transmission, even after death, is far greater than that posed in theory by the coronavirus.

“With Ebola, it’s clearly direct contact with bodily fluids, because there’s high titers of Ebola pretty much everywhere in somebody who’s died from Ebola,” Dr. Rasmussen said.

Under the theme, Protect Yourself, Protect Your Family, Get Vaccinated Against covid-19, this edition is expected to vaccinate over 1.4 million people between 14th and 18th December 2023.

The GHS has currently administered a total of 21,179,341 vaccine doses as of November 30.

The Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) at the GHS, Dr Kwame Amponsah-Achiano, told Adom News’ Reporter Shine Acquah, the vaccination campaign was on hold due to the rise of other diseases like yellow fever, polio and Marburg.

He said it has become necessary to ignite, especially during the period when there would be an influx of visitors into the country.

Dr Amponsah-Achiano has, therefore, urged the public to take advantage of the exercise, insisting that this is the best time to take the jab.

He stressed, existing Covid-19 prevention measures at the airport for visitors have been strengthened to reduce the number of cases which may enter the country.

“Travellers or tourists who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be vaccinated upon arrival. Those who have been vaccinated partially will have to conduct a PCR test 48/hours before arrival into the country where the person will also be subject to a test at the airport and will also be asked to fill out a Health Declaration Form which shall be provided to them at the airport,” he detailed.

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The GHS also debunked news about administering expired vaccines, stating a stability study was carried by World Health Organization and dates have been extended upon thorough lab checks, hence all drugs are safe for the public.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has admonished the public to accept Covid-19 vaccination as part of the routine vaccinations done for polio, yellow fever and the like.

On Monday, as Ghana beat South Korea in a classic World Cup clash, subtle changes to China’s coverage of the match ensured viewers were not exposed to images of maskless supporters – and to a world moving on from Covid restrictions. 

Those watching on the BBC – and in most places around the world – will have seen their screens filled with the image of a beaming, maskless, Ghana fan celebrating excitedly as the camera zooms in.

After Mohammed Kudus fired home the winner in the 68th minute, images of dancing and cheering fans – as well as shots of anxious South Korea fans – were beamed around the world. 

But not in China, where those watching on the state broadcaster’s sports channel, CCTV 5, will have experienced these moments differently.

Instead of being shown the raucous fans, Chinese viewers saw the reactions of South Korea’s coach Paulo Bento and Ghana manager Otto Addo.

And as the game reached its conclusion, shots of tearful South Korea supporters with their heads in their hands were conspicuously absent on the Chinese output. 

The change is subtle but very deliberate. 

As anti-lockdown protests rock China, state TV executives have been careful to avoid beaming images of a world largely moving on from Covid-19 restrictions into citizens’ homes.

It is not unusual for broadcasters at major tournaments to be given the option of choosing their own camera angles, and some often set a slight delay to allow the editing and selection of pictures before the public sees them. 

The BBC observed that there was roughly a 52-second delay between its own coverage of the match and CCTV 5’s.

But in this case, the changes appear to have come after images of maskless fans celebrating in packed stadiums stoked anger in China, where snap lockdowns and restrictions remain commonplace and controversial. 

Social media users in China were quick to notice the change, with many expressing frustration at how differently the rest of the world now seems to be treating Covid.

An open letter questioning China’s ongoing zero-Covid policies and asking if it was “on the same planet” as Qatar quickly spread on messaging app WeChat last week, before being censored.

“On one side of the world, there is the carnival that is the World Cup, on the other are rules not to visit public places for five days,” one user of the Weibo social media platform wrote.

Even the state-backed Global Times newspaper has conceded that some fans are “choosing to watch the games at home with their families” as many Chinese cities remain under restrictions.

And while wide angle shots showing some maskless fans are impossible to avoid completely, close up images of supporters enjoying the action free from restrictions are unlikely to return for Chinese fans.

Virologist, Dr Michael Owusu, says all samples screened at the Centre over the period came out negative.

According to him, the country’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout has played a vital role in ensuring the disease is controlled in the population.

“For some time now we have been testing since the president last made his announcement. We have recorded zero cases out of every hundred. And the second point is that people have taken doses of vaccines so they are fine.

“The good news is that even if you have people getting the virus, because of the vaccination, they are not likely to have severe disease or die,” he stated.

Dr Owusu observed the virus has been suppressed to a level where it has lost the capacity to cause mass death and harm as it used to be.

Notwithstanding, the Virologist says due to the mutating nature of the virus, the country should not let its guard down.

On August 12, 2022, Ghana announced there had been no active cases of the Ebola-like Marburg virus, following the recovery of the last infected person.

Ghana confirmed the first case of the Marburg virus disease on July 4. Three cases have since been reported with two fatalities recorded.

Dr Owusu cautioned that though the human-to-human transmission is concluded, Ghana should not be surprised if the virus recur after one or two years.

He spoke at an outreach event organised by PIWC Bompata Branch in the Ashanti Region.

The programme was on the theme, “No Jesus NO Life”.

Resident Minister of Bompata PIWC, Pastor Joshua Kwabena Donko, asked for prayers for leaders of the country to act responsibly to change the economic woes facing the country.

“We all have to do our part. God has placed us in every sphere of influence, including governance and so we are not looking at leadership alone. Wherever God has place you, you must act responsibly and put up your best and the situation will change,” he stated

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The construction of the UN COVID-19 Field Hospital in Accra (UNCFHA) started in May 2020 and the basic infrastructure was concluded on 9th June 2020.

The Hospital contains pharmacies, state-of-act operating rooms and intensive care units.

The facility holds 12 intensive care beds, 24 general/higher dependency beds, four reception and resuscitation beds, four step down/pre-discharge beds and an additional 32 beds.

Dr Francis Kasolo, the WHO country representative, who handed over the facility to the Ministry on behalf of the UN, thanked the government, the Ministry of Health and other partners who facilitated the setting up of the facility in the country.

“This could open the door for future partnership with the Government of Ghana,” he added.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, who received the facility on behalf of the Ministry and the people of Ghana expressed his profound gratitude to the UN for the gesture and the privilege given to Ghana to host the facility during the COVID-19 period.

He assured the UN that the facility will not only be added to the assets that “we have in terms of health in the country but will also be put to good use”, adding, “I’m very confident that we will continue with this collaboration for the benefit of mankind.”

This development has forced the shutdown of some schools and companies, according to the Director-General of the Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, June 22, he said the number could be more because some of the schools have not reported their cases to the health body yet.

“There is still a lot of underreporting. We know that there are about 13 schools that have reported outbreaks but we also know that there are a lot more than 13 who have not reported.

“We’ve had 245 cases among these 13 schools; 134 have recovered and 111 are still active – they are still waiting to recover. The good thing is that we’ve not had any deaths among these cases,” he told the media.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye noted that “we have, mainly, workplace and school outbreaks. Some schools have closed down temporarily to control the spread; other companies have also taken a little break to make sure that they are able to contain the spread.”

Data available to the Service shows cases involving children in Accra have risen from 18% to 20%, a situation the Ghana Health Service has described as worrying.

“Something has to be done as far as the protection of children is concerned because they are also not vaccinated to give them the protection they need,” the GHS Director-General appealed to Ghanaians.

Ghana currently has a total of 1,308 active cases of the virus as of June 18, 2022, with 1,448 deaths and 218 new cases.

According to the Ghana Health Service, 16,752,032 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered.

While 7.2 million people representing 22% of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated, over 10 million others have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Meanwhile, more than one million people have received booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mr Bagbin, speaking on the floor of the House on Thursday, said the Minister must appear before the House or suffer rejection of requests from the Finance Ministry.

He contended that Order 63 of Parliament’s standing orders bars a Minister from taking more than three weeks to respond to questions from the House.

“I will go further to say that until the answer is provided, until he goes through the accountability process, we will not take that motion…Today, he has another request before us that will also be affected.

“Until he comes to respond to the question, and to submit the statement giving explanation as to how that money has been applied, we will not entertain any business from that Ministry. Mark my words,” Mr Bagbin said.

The Finance Minister was billed to appear before the House on Thursday to account for the government’s expenditure on Covid-19.

Despite earlier assurances from the leadership of the Majority group in Parliament, Mr Ofori-Atta on Thursday did not show up to render accounts on the Covid-19 funds.

Regardless of Mr Ofori-Atta’s failure to appear before the House, the Ministry is requesting the approval of a loan sum of 1 billion dollars in total.

The amount comprises 750 million dollars from the Afreximbank to finance capital and growth-related expenditures in the 2022 budget and a syndicated loan of 250 million dollars from a consortium of banks.

But Mr Bagbin said the House will not accept the Finance Ministry’s request.

Per the Business Statement for the week, and Wednesday’s provisional Order Paper, Mr Ofori-Atta was expected to answer 16 questions, which include accounts on Covid-19 funds.

But the said questions were not tabled as part of the day’s business.

The Minority MPs are not happy about the development as they have accused him of a continuous disrespect of the House.

Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, stressed that the attitude of the Finance Minister points to the fact that the government does not care much about probity and transparency.

He explained that “if he [Ken Ofori-Atta] really cares and this man has any conscience, he would not have the guts to go and sit on national television and be defending the building of the National Cathedral, while countless number of NABCo people have not been paid, and while the National Health Insurance Authority’s Fund has not been paid.”

He also noted that his side will not give up on demanding accountability from the Finance Minister with regards to government’s expenditure on Covid-19.

“We are talking in excess of GH¢25 million. We need a bi-partisan probe into the entire expenditure and the receipt of Covid money. For me, the questions on the Order Paper are not enough.”

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The move could result in the U.N. health agency distributing scarce vaccine doses to rich countries that can otherwise afford them.

To some health experts, the initiative potentially misses the opportunity to control monkeypox virus in the African countries where it’s infected people for decades, serving as another example of the inequity in vaccine distribution that was seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency is developing an initiative for “fair access” to vaccines and treatments that it hopes will be ready within weeks.

The mechanism was proposed shortly after Britain, Canada, France, Germany, the U.S. and other countries reported hundreds of monkeypox cases last month.

Vaccines for smallpox, a related disease, are thought to be about 85% effective against monkeypox. WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, said Wednesday he was concerned by the scramble by some rich countries to buy more vaccines without talk of buying supplies for Africa.

Kluge urged governments “to approach monkeypox without repeating the mistakes of the pandemic.” Still, he did not discount the possibility that countries like Britain, which currently has the biggest outbreak beyond Africa, might receive vaccines through WHO’s mechanism.

He said the program was being created for all countries and that vaccines would largely be dispensed based on their epidemiological needs.

“Europe remains the epicenter of this escalating outbreak, with 25 countries reporting more than 1,500 cases, or 85% of the global total,” Kluge noted.

Some African experts questioned why the U.N. health agency has never proposed using vaccines in central and West Africa, where the disease is endemic.

“The place to start any vaccination should be Africa and not elsewhere,” Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.

He said the lack of any vaccines to counter monkeypox on the continent, where more than 1,500 suspected cases and 72 deaths have been reported this year, was a more critical concern than the clusters of mostly mild disease being reported in rich countries.

“This is an extension of the inequity that we saw during COVID,” said Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor, director of policy and advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch. “We have had hundreds of monkeypox cases in Nigeria from 2017 until now and we’re just dealing with it on our own,” he said. “Nobody has discussed when there might be vaccines available for Africa.”

After the coronavirus pandemic exploded in 2020, global health agencies rushed to set up COVAX, a U.N.-backed effort to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. But rich countries bought up most of the world’s supply, and the COVAX program missed multiple targets to share doses with the world’s poor.

To date, only about 17% of people in poorer countries have received a single dose of coronavirus vaccine. Some experts fear the same thing could happen with monkeypox.

“Just like with COVID, there is no clear path for how poorer countries will be able to get vaccines,” Brook Baker, a Northeastern University law professor who specializes in access to medicines, said.

He warned that as WHO attempts to determine how many vaccine doses are available, rich countries that previously promised doses might not cooperate.

“Rich countries will protect themselves while people in the global south die,” Baker predicted.

On Monday, advocacy group Public Citizen sent a letter to the White House, asking if the Biden administration would release the 20 million smallpox vaccines the U.S. pledged in 2004 for WHO’s use in the event of an emergency, like a biological attack.

Asked about the commitment, a senior U.S. official said the government was “exploring all options” to further their efforts to stop monkeypox within the U.S. and globally.

The official said the U.S. had returned more than 200,000 doses of a smallpox vaccine to the manufacturer so they would be available to others. The official declined to say if the U.S. considers the current monkeypox outbreak an emergency that warrants the release of the 20 million pledged vaccines.

Francois Balloux, an infectious diseases expert at University College London, said vaccination efforts in rich countries should prompt an overhaul of future monkeypox response strategies in Africa.

“It really should be a priority to vaccinate people in Africa, where there is a nastier strain that has actually killed people,” he said, adding that more monkeypox spillovers were likely in the future.

“Whatever vaccination happens in Europe, that is not going to solve the problem,” Balloux said.

Officials said they were dropping the requirement due to the “tremendous progress” the country had made in the fight against the virus.

The travel industry has been pushing for an end to the policy, which they say has deterred bookings, as families fear getting stranded abroad.

The change comes into effect on Sunday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will re-evaluate the policy in 90 days. The administration said it would “not hesitate to act” to reinstate the rule should new variants make officials believe it is necessary.

“We are able to take this step because of the tremendous progress we’ve made in our fight against the virus: We have made lifesaving vaccines and treatments widely available and these tools are working to prevent serious illness and death, and are effective against the prevalent variants circulating in the US and around the world,” a senior official told reporters.

The US introduced rules requiring air travellers to test negative within three days of their flight – or provide proof of recent recovery from the virus – in January 2021.

US President Joe Biden tightened the policy to within one day of flying in December, as the Omicron variant pushed virus cases higher. The testing measure did not apply to land crossings.

Most non-US citizens must still be vaccinated to travel to the country. 

The number of Covid cases in the US has dropped sharply since January, though the figures had started to rise again in recent weeks before plateauing. Deaths remain much lower than during the height of the pandemic because of the impact of the vaccination programme. 

The travel sector, which has seen demand surge as concerns about the pandemic wane, has said the US has lagged behind other countries in re-evaluating testing policies.

The UK removed all Covid-19 test requirements for travel in March, as did Canada. Italy ended its testing requirements this month.

On Friday, Canada also said it would pause random Covid testing at airports for the rest of June in order to reduce wait times for travellers. 

US Travel Association president Roger Dow said the change in policy would “accelerate the recovery of the US travel industry”, while the International Air Transport Association said it was “great news” the “ineffective” measure was being dropped. 

Airline Virgin Atlantic also welcomed the move, saying it would “boost consumer confidence even further and support the rebound in transatlantic travel this summer”. 

The US has been slowly easing Covid national restrictions. Last November, it lifted restrictions on travellers from more than 30 countries, including the UK, after a more than 18-month ban. 

In April, the US dropped its requirement that passengers wear masks on planes after a court voided the CDC’s mandate.

According to research by the US Travel Association, eliminating the test requirement is likely to bring an additional 5.4 million visitors to the US this year, boosting travel spending by 12%,

“Today marks another huge step forward for the recovery of inbound air travel and the return of international travel to the United States,” Mr Dow said.

An update by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Monday, June 6, shows the case count has started going up, with 370 active cases and a record of 62 new cases as of June 2, 2022.

The total confirmed cases are 161,795, with 159,980 recoveries/discharge, and 1,445 deaths.

Between the month of April and May, the country’s active cases were less than 100 – many expressed happiness over the situation due to what they saw to be a gradual victory against the virus.

Meanwhile, the public has been cautioned to continue observing the safety protocols where necessary to reduce further spread of the virus.

In early 2020, the country sealed its borders to try to insulate itself from the pandemic.

Its leadership has so far rejected outside medical support.

And state media has recommended traditional treatments to deal with what is referred to as “fever”.

Hot drinks

For those not seriously ill, ruling-party newspaper Rodong Simnun recommended remedies including ginger or honeysuckle tea and a willow-leaf drink.

Hot drinks might soothe some Covid symptoms, such as a sore throat or cough, and help hydration when patients are losing more fluid than normal.

Ginger and willow leaf also relieve inflammation and reduce pain.

But they are not a treatment for the virus itself.

Salt water

State media recently interviewed a couple who recommended gargling with salt water morning and night.

A “thousand of tonnes of salt” had been sent to Pyongyang to make an “antiseptic solution”, the state news agency reported.

Some studies suggest gargling and nasal rinses with salt water combat viruses that cause the common cold.

But there is little evidence they slow the spread of Covid.

Mouthwash could kill the virus in the lab, a study found.

But it has not convincingly been shown to help in humans.

Covid is mainly caught by inhaling tiny droplets in the air via the nose as well as the mouth, so gargling attacks only one point of entry.

And once the virus has entered, it replicates and spreads deep into the organs, where no amount of gargling can reach.

Painkillers and antibiotics

State television has advised patients to use painkillers such as ibuprofen as well as amoxicillin and other antibiotics.

Ibuprofen (and paracetamol) can bring down a temperature and ease symptoms such as headache or sore throat.

But they will not clear the virus or prevent it developing.

Antibiotics, meant for bacterial infections not viruses, are not recommended.

And using antibiotics unnecessarily risks developing resistant bugs.

Laboratory research suggests some may slow the spread of some viruses, including Covid.

But these have not been replicated in the real world.

And a study of the antibiotic azithromycin found it made little or no difference to Covid symptoms, the likelihood of hospital admission or death.

There are some approved drugs to prevent people with Covid ending up in hospital:

• antivirals paxlovid, molnupiravir and remdesivir
• antibody therapies that mimic the immune system

But their effectiveness is variable.

Health system

North Korea’s health system has been set up to offer free medical care from basic services at village level up to specialised treatment in government hospitals (usually in urban centres).

But the economy has contracted in recent years because of sanctions and extreme weather such as droughts.

Closing the country’s borders and strict lockdown measures will also have had a damaging impact.

Particularly weak outside Pyongyang, the health system is thought to suffer shortages of personnel, medicines and equipment.

A report for the UN, last year, said: “Some of the pharmaceutical, vaccination and medical-appliance plants do not reach the level of good practice of the WHO [World Health Organization] and do not meet local demand as well.”

Many North Korean defectors to South Korea have told of having to pay for medication or finding treatment and drugs limited to privileged members of the ruling party.

But state media says it is now increasing production.

International aid

North Korea turned down three million Chinese-made doses, last year – and reportedly rejected other offers – under Covax, the global vaccine-sharing scheme.

South Korea says it has had no reply to its offer of vaccines, medical supplies and personnel.

North Korea has reportedly recently sent three planes to collect medical supplies from Shenyang.

These had not included “anti-pandemic supplies”, the Chinese foreign ministry said, but it was “ready to work with North Korea… in the fight against the coronavirus”.

Many more are following suit and the latest to relax her COVID-19 restrictions is Indonesia.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus, overseas travellers to Indonesia were required to undergo PCR test for COVID whether vaccinated or not but now the President of Indonesia, H.E Joko Widodo has removed Covid-19 testing requirements for fully-vaccinated overseas travelers to the country.

This follows an improvement in the Covid-19 situation in the world’s fourth-most populous country with a population of more than 270 million inhabitants.

Wearing of nose masks outdoors has also become optional except for crowded outdoor areas, indoor activities and on public transport.

Announcing the latest relaxed restrictions on the pandemic in Jakarta, President Widodo added that the elderly, those having underlying health conditions or exhibiting symptoms of a cold, are encouraged to still wear face masks.

The decision comes after neighbouring Singapore ended most of its Covid-19 virus curbs with Malaysia also relaxing its mask mandate.

Indonesia will keep its remaining virus restrictions until May 23 when the government would evaluate whether the rules are still needed. Covid-19 cases in the world’s fourth-most populous nation have been easing, even reaching this year’s low in early May, as death tolls also fall drastically.

Confirming the announcement in an interview in Accra, the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Indonesia in Ghana, H.E. Paskal A.B.Rois said the relaxed restrictions as announced by the President of Indonesia, were very welcoming.

According to him, many Ghanaians including businessmen and women had been knocking at the doors of the Consulate in order to acquire Visas to travel to Indonesia either for business ventures or private tours but were unsuccessful due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

Mr. Rois was of the view that the relaxed protocols would enable such prospective visitors and the business community in Ghana to visit Jakarta in order to pursue their business, tourism and other dreams.

Consul Paskal A.B. Rois emphasized that the Republic of Indonesia re-opened the country for international tourists since 12th January, 2022 and encouraged all Ghanaians to take advantage of the latest relaxed Covid-19 restrictions to visit Indonesia.

He gave the assurance that the Consulate is ready to assist anyone to acquire the necessary documents including Visa to travel to Indonesia for business ventures and other purposes.

According to him, his outfit would also assist any first-time visitor to Indonesia to get to any destination of his or her choice within the Republic of Indonesia, emphasizing, ‘it is opened and now easier for people to travel to Indonesia’.

Indonesia recorded a total of four million tourists in 2020. In 2021, there were about 1.56 million international visitor arrivals in Indonesia.

The number significantly decreased in comparison to the previous year’s due to the Covid-19 travel restrictions.

These cases according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) are within the Greater Accra Region while the remaining regions have no cases at the moment.

The GHS data indicated Ghana’s total cases were 161, 280 while the recoveries stood at 159, 788 with 1,445 deaths since the first case was recorded in March 2020.

President Akufo-Addo in his 28th COVID-19 update to the nation on March 27, 2022, announced the wearing of facemasks was no longer mandatory.

He also announced all in-person activities, such as those that take place in churches, mosques, conferences, workshops, private parties and events, cinemas and theatres may resume at full capacity, as long as the audience and/or participants are fully vaccinated.

However, he advised citizens to continue to maintain enhanced hand hygiene practices, and avoid overcrowded gatherings.

Check out the full data below:

Six people died after suffering a fever with one testing positive for Omicron, state media reported on Friday.

It said 187,000 people with a fever were being “isolated and treated”.

While experts believe the virus has been present in the country for some time, the authorities only announced the first cases on Thursday.

They said there had been an outbreak of the Omicron variant in the capital, Pyongyang, and announced lockdown measures. They did not give precise case numbers.

But in an update on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported that the outbreak extended beyond the capital. “A fever whose cause couldn’t be identified spread explosively nationwide from late April,” it said.

Around 350,000 people had shown signs of that fever, it added, without specifying how many had tested positive for Covid.

Analysts suggest the latest figures from state media, including the acknowledgement that the unspecified fever had spread nationwide, may indicate the country is experiencing an outbreak unlike any it has seen so far.

Its population of 25 million is vulnerable due to the lack of a vaccination programme and poor healthcare, experts say.

North Korea rejected offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made jabs last year. Instead, it claimed it had controlled Covid by sealing its borders early in January 2020.

The country shares land borders with South Korea and China, which have both battled outbreaks. China is now struggling to contain an Omicron wave with lockdowns in its biggest cities.

On Friday, KCNA reported that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had visited a healthcare centre and “learned about the nationwide spread of Covid-19”.

It described the situation as an “immediate public health crisis”.

State media have reported an Omicron outbreak in the capital, Pyongyang, but did not state the number of cases.

North Korea has rejected any kind of vaccine programme, even when offered a supply by other countries.

Instead, it controlled Covid by sealing its borders – and had never recorded a case, despite experts believing the virus has long been present.

Outsiders say the nation’s 25 million population is vulnerable due to the lack of a Covid-19 vaccine programme, even rejecting offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made Sinovac jabs last year.

There have also been concerns about North Korea’s impoverished healthcare system.

KCNA said leader Kim Jong-un had vowed to eradicate the outbreak, which it called a “severe national emergency” that had breached the country’s “quarantine front”.

But its strategy of sealing its foreign borders – one of the first countries to do so, in January 2020 – has also stopped essential supplies from entering the country, leading to food shortages and a cratering economy.

On Thursday, KCNA said Mr Kim had ordered “maximum emergency” virus controls, which appeared to include orders for localised lockdowns and gathering restrictions in workplaces.

The North Korean news outlet added that the first case of the Omicron variant had been reportedly detected in the capital four days ago.

Residents in some areas of Pyongyang had been subjected to lockdown for at least two days before the latest announcement, according to NK News, a Seoul-based monitoring site.

South Korea’s government said it has renewed its offer of humanitarian assistance to the North in response to the news of the outbreak. Pyongyang has yet to respond.

For more than two years, North Korea has, rather dubiously, claimed not to have a single case of Covid-19. So why admit to it now?

Most likely it is because this outbreak is too serious and too difficult to hide.

North Korea has been consistent in its public commitment to fighting the virus. This is how it has justified closing its borders for so long. Now that Omicron has entered the country, the challenge is to limit its spread.

With no vaccines, poor healthcare and a limited capacity to test people, North Korea’s options are very limited right now.

Authorities have clearly decided they have no choice but to put the country into lockdown. In order to do this, they simply have to tell people and the rest of the world.

It does not necessarily mean they will be any more willing to accept outside help.

This includes Covid-19 vaccines which will be exported to other countries around the world.

Some of the companies have set August and September this year to start building their plants and subsequently start manufacturing the vaccines in 2022.

The selected potential manufacturers are; DEK Consortium and Atlantic Life Science from Ghana, Innovative Biotech and Biovaccines of Nigeria and Pasteur Institute in Dakar.

Institutions that have made commitments and sponsoring the local vaccine manufacturers include; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), West African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (WAPMA), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Regional Office and Mastercard Foundation.

The Director-General of WAHO, Professor Stanley Okolo, announced this in Accra at a high-level meeting to consider efforts being made to boost vaccine manufacturing in the ECOWAS region.

The meeting, is being held in collaboration with the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and vaccine manufacturers from the sub-region.

Prof Okolo said, the objective of the meeting is to build a strong collaboration between these manufactures to prevent competition among them.

He explained that some of the potential manufacturers had signed agreements with global vaccine manufacturers to do fill-and-finish and later manufacture their own vaccines.

He said presently, only one per cent of vaccines used in Africa are produced locally.

Prof Okolo noted that the vision is to achieve a 60% increase by the year 2024, stressing that the continent has all the rudiments and building blocks to make this happen.

He explained that given the urgency in the sub-region and the vulnerability of the ECOWAS’ population to the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases, the ECOWAS Commission and WAHO under the ECOWAS Authorities of Heads of State and Governments are facilitating efforts to boost local vaccines manufacturing and other medical supplies in the sub-region.

This, he said, cannot be achieved without the needed improved infrastructure and human resource capacity.

According to him, the Covid-19 pandemic had shown that low- and middle-income countries have had to rely mostly on donations of vaccines from rich nations.

Prof Okolo, however, explained that research had shown that building continental and regional manufacturing capabilities will contribute to pandemic preparedness and strengthen the response to future outbreaks.

Currently, he said West Africa requires some 370 million doses of Covid-19 to meet the 70% vaccination target.

He appealed to the manufacturers to openly share their knowledge and expertise and effectively collaborate with one another to achieve the expected breakthrough in vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

He said one important aim of WAHO is obtaining the political will and the go-ahead of ECOWAS Council of Heads of States and Governments to bring together manufacturers, partners, external collaborators and regulators to advance the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines.

“Some of the things we have done on the health side is the harmonisation of the regulations so that you don’t have to go through 15 different countries in order to register a medicine, but you go to a central platform,” he added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, in a speech read on her behalf, pledged her office’s commitment to support ECOWAS.

“We want to confirm the commitment of WHO regional office for West Africa, in collaboration with WHO headquarters, our great commitment to support member states to strength capacity for local production in the region and support member states,” she disclosed.

Dr Moeti noted that the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the over-reliance of low- and middle-income countries on donations from rich nations.

Chairman of the Presidential Vaccines Committee, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, said Ghana is working closely with Rwanda and Senegal in the development of the Covid-19 vaccines, which is expected soon in the country for packaging and distribution for commercial use by 2024.

He gave some highlights of Ghana’s progress regarding its vaccine development efforts, citing the expected completion of the National Vaccines Institute infrastructure by the third quarter of 2022 to coordinate the development and manufacturing of vaccines.

Others include strengthening collaboration between existing research capacity enhancement of the Food and Drugs Authority to attain International Standard Organisation Level Four of its laboratory performance, and the enhancement of human resource capacity base for research, management of manufacturing plants, as well as stakeholder engagements for the effective support of government efforts.

By building continental or regional manufacturing capabilities, WAHO hopes to boost pandemic preparedness and strengthen the response to future outbreaks.

As part of the programme for the two-day meeting, WAHO hopes to find out how manufacturers will identify particular vaccines of interest to produce.

Also up for discussion will be the engagement of contract clinical research organisations (CROs) and technology platform of high yield, high-quality product using the most cost-effective methodologies available, as well as clinical trial centres.

Given the urgency in the region and vulnerability of ECOWAS population to the Covid-19 pandemics and other diseases, the ECOWAS Commission and the West Africa Health Organisation under the decision of the ECOWAS Authorities of Heads of States have pledged their support for the establishment of a robust vaccine production capacity in the ECOWAS region.

That is 13% more deaths than normally expected over two years.

The WHO believes many countries undercounted the numbers who died from Covid – only 5.4 million were reported.

In India, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths, it says – 10 times the official figures – and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.

The Indian government has questioned the estimate, saying it has “concerns” about the methodology, but other studies have come to similar conclusions about the scale of deaths in the country.

The measure used by the WHO is called excess deaths – how many more people died than would normally be expected based on mortality in the same area before the pandemic hit.

These calculations also take into account deaths which were not directly because of Covid but instead caused by its knock-on effects, like people being unable to access hospitals for the care they needed. It also accounts for poor record-keeping in some regions, and sparse testing at the start of the crisis.

But the WHO said the majority of the extra 9.5 million deaths seen above the 5.4 million Covid deaths reported were thought to be direct deaths caused by the virus, rather than indirect deaths.

Speaking about the scale of the figures, Dr Samira Asma, from the WHO’s data department, said “It’s a tragedy.

“It’s a staggering number and it’s important for us to honour the lives that are lost, and we have to hold policymakers accountable,” she said.

“If we don’t count the dead, we will miss the opportunity to be better prepared for the next time.”

Alongside India, countries with the highest total excess deaths included Russia, Indonesia, USA, Brazil, Mexico and Peru, the WHO figures suggest. The numbers for Russia are three-and-a-half times the country’s recorded deaths.

The report also looks at the rates of excess deaths relative to each country’s population size. The UK’s excess mortality rate – like America, Spain and Germany – was above the global average during 2020 and 2021.

Countries with low excess mortality rates included China, which is still pursuing a policy of “zero Covid” involving mass testing and quarantines, Australia, which imposed strict travel restrictions to keep the virus out of the country, Japan and Norway.

The academics who helped compile the report admit their estimates are more speculative for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, because there is little data on deaths in the region. There were no reliable statistics for 41 out of 54 countries in Africa.

Statistician Prof Jon Wakefield, from Seattle’s University of Washington, helped the WHO and told the BBC: “We urgently need better data collection systems.

“It is a disgrace that people can be born and die – and we have no record of their passing.

“So we really need to invest in countries’ registration systems so we can get accurate and timely data.”

Nibima is a plant that is going under series of clinical trials to ascertain its efficacy for COVID-19 treatment.

The acting Public Relations Officer, at the centre, Eunice Ama Oppong, disclosed this in an interview with Adom News‘ Kwame Kulenu.

“With the ‘nibima’ plant, a team from World Organisation (WHO) will be visiting our office at Mampong to find out where you’ve gotten with the research so we are hoping that very soon, good news will come out from Mampong,” she said.

She said they are still on course in their quest to find a cure for COVID-19 despite several restrictions on COVID-19 protocols.

“Since the covid-19 outbreak, we at Mampong have done a lot of research and we are still going on with it and through that, we’ve come out with drugs which serve as immune boosters so Ghanaians should be rest assured that, we will keep delivering on our mandate.

“We have not given up on our commitment to getting a local vaccine for COVID-19. As I’m speaking to you now, there is still a clinical trial ongoing for the Nibima plant and we are still praying and hoping for a good outcome,” she added.

Madam Oppong added that though most of the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, it does not mean Ghana is out from the virus so they will not give up on the effort they are making to get a local vaccine for the pandemic.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Ghana has been pushing to get its own locally manufactured vaccine.

President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2021 announced the establishment of the institute which would supervise the domestic production of Covid-19 and other vaccines, led by the private sector and the business community.

In quest of achieving that President Akufo-Addo has committed a seed fund of $25 million dollars for the local production of COVID-19 vaccines.

President Akufo-Addo, delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA), indicated the first phase of the local commercial vaccine production will commence in January 2024.

In view of this, a bill will shortly be sent to parliament for support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.

Until now, there had been separate measures for the eastern and western sides, but the whole city is now subject to indefinite restrictions.

Shanghai is the largest single city to be locked down to date.

The important financial hub has battled a new wave of coronavirus infections for more than a month.

The authorities reacted after new cases rose to more than 13,000 a day, although the numbers are not high by some international standards.

Residents in some areas of the city said the strict policy meant no-one was allowed to leave their housing compounds, not even to collect essential provisions.

They reported difficulties in ordering food and water online, with items selling out before they could be added to digital shopping baskets.

The city is testing the limits of China’s zero-Covid strategy, amid growing public anger over quarantine rules.

The policy sets China apart from most other countries which are trying to live with the virus.

But the increased transmissibility and milder nature of the Omicron variant has led to questions over whether the current strategy is sustainable in the long run.

“Currently, Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control is at the most difficult and most critical stage,” said Wu Qianyu, an official with the municipal health commission.

“We must adhere to the general policy of dynamic clearance without hesitation, without wavering.”

On Monday, Shanghai reported a record 13,086 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, after a city-wide testing programme took samples from more than 25 million people in 24 hours.

At least 38,000 people have been deployed to Shanghai from other regions, in what state media have said is the biggest nationwide medical operation since the shutdown of Wuhan in early 2020.

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The treatment, administered in two injections, can be taken by adults and adolescents above the age of 12. In clinical trials, the drug reduced the risk of developing symptomatic Covid-19 by 77% compared to the placebo, the company said in a statement.

Unlike other antibody treatments, which are used after someone contracts Covid-19 to prevent severe illness, Evusheld would be used as an alternative vaccination for people who had a weak immune response to existing Covid-19 vaccines or for whom vaccination is not recommended, such as the immunocompromised.

In a second analysis, six months into the Phase 3 trial of Evusheld – which includes a 150mg dose of tixagevimab and 150mg of cilgavimab administered as two separate sequential injections – those who took the drug saw their risk of developing symptomatic Covid-19 drop by 83% compared to those who’d taken a placebo.

The company also said Evusheld specifically targeted and neutralized antibodies from Omicron and its subsequent BA.2 variant, which is now dominant across Europe and the U.S.

Christoph D. Spinner, a pandemic officer at the University Hospital Rechts der Isar, said, “the authorization of Evusheld for a broad population will allow health authorities in the EU to identify the populations who are most at-risk and need additional protection.”

Confusion overseas

Evusheld was authorised by the Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 2, 2022, for emergency use in the U.S. and has also been granted conditional marketing authorisation in the U.K.

But while the protection it offers from getting Covid-19 is widely accepted, around 80% of the available Evusheld doses sit unused in warehouses, pharmacies and hospitals, according to the New York Times.

In the U.S., there has been confusion surrounding the drug, with patients and doctors not knowing about the drug’s existence or where they can even find it. Some doctors and providers also don’t know how to prescribe the drug due to its confusing relationship to other antibody therapies that are usually taken after contracting Covid-19.

“The biggest problem is that there is absolutely no guidance or prioritization or any rollout in place at all, and it’s been a mess,” Dr Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon and epidemiologist at N.Y.U. Langone Health said in the New York Times.

“For people who did everything they could but didn’t have an adequate response to the vaccines, [Evusheld] is their only hope, and to deny them that because of a disorganized and chaotic distribution and education rollout is just terrible,” Sergeev said to CNN.

The Biden administration purchased 1.7 million doses of Evusheld in January – enough to fully treat 850,000 people – and made 650,000 doses ready for distribution to the states. But of those 1.7 million doses only 370,000 have been ordered by the states, and fewer than a quarter of those doses have been used.

A CNN investigation identified 59 pharmacies that had ordered Evusheld. Of the 5,372 boxes they had been delivered, only 1,376 boxes had been used.

Distributing Evusheld in the EU will likely require a smoother rollout to avoid the poor uptake it has experienced in the U.S. “We will continue to work with governments across Europe to make Evusheld available as quickly as possible,” Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca said.

Otherwise, the immunocompromised waiting for a silver bullet may be left waiting.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

In view of this, a bill will shortly be sent to parliament for support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.

The president in 2021 announced the establishment of the institute which would supervise the domestic production of Covid-19 and other vaccines, led by the private sector and the business community.

Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address, President Akufo-Addo noted plans are far advanced with a comprehensive strategy put in place.

“Mr Speaker, the Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, which I set up to respond to this obvious deficiency, has put in place a comprehensive strategy for domestic vaccine production, and the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to implement the strategy, which will enable us to begin the first phase of commercial production in January 2024,” he detailed.

Meanwhile, the government has set aside €20 million for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute, President Akufo-Addo has said.

The amount would be allocated from an €82.5 million facility approved for Ghana by the European Investment Bank for use in the effort to strengthen healthcare delivery.

A notice signed by the Registrar said management is mindful of the fact that the virus is still present; hence, the need for the university community to comply with existing safety etiquettes to prevent its spread.

In his 28th national Covid-19 address on Sunday, President Akufo-Addo lifted the restrictions and bans on huge gatherings and mentioned that facilities can now admit patrons to full capacity provided participants are fully vaccinated.

He also announced that wearing of nose masks, among other restrictions, sanctioned by Executive Instrument (E.I.), is no more mandatory.

“Management of the University has discussed these revisions to the Covid-19 protocols and notes the difficulty in ensuring social distance in classrooms, halls of residence, offices and other enclosed spaces, as well as checking vaccination status of members of the University community and visitors to the University’s campus.

“Management strongly encourages staff and students to continue observing Covid-19 protocols including wearing of nose masks on campus, especially in enclosed spaces such as lecture halls, halls of residence and offices; washing hands with soap and water and frequent use of hand sanitisers,” the Registrar Emelia Agyei-Mensah stated.

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The University community has been entreated to visit the University Hospital or any other healthcare facility to get vaccinated.

In a related development, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr. Kwame Sarpong Asiedu has entreated members of the general public to continue wearing facemasks in spite of the lifting of the ban by President Akufo-Addo.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, on Monday, March 28, 2022, Dr. Sarpong Asiedu said the continuous wearing of facemasks is in the best interest of the general public.

He argued that since the virus spreads through droplets, there’s a probability that people will get infected in many ways, hence, the need to continue wearing the facemasks.

“You have this one thing which is the nose mask which can protect you [from airborne diseases], I struggle to see why you would take it off just because the President said do so. It’s not because of Covid you’re doing something, but’s it’s in your best interest,” he said.

KIA was ranked for the third consecutive time as the best airport in size in Africa by Airports Council International.

Though Ghana has received accolade for its stringent yet productive COVID-19 management guide, the testing regime at the KIA has been a major drain on the comfort and pockets of passengers both international and local.

But speaking to Joy Business, Mr. Mendis said Ghana’s “unfavorable COVID-19 testing regime” possess a threat to the growth of the aviation industry.

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 “Passengers still having to pay $150 upon entry even though most of them are fully vaccinated and bearing proof of vaccination is draining.”

“If this testing regime is not reviewed as a matter of urgency, we are likely to see a dramatic fall in passenger numbers this year,” he told Joy Business.

Neighbouring Nigeria has so far lifted its COVID-19 testing regime only for fully vaccinated passengers.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has hinted at reducing the COVID-19 test requirement at the KIA for persons who have been fully vaccinated.

In an interview with Joy News, the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, said a review that will soon be completed will grant exemption to individuals who are fully vaccinated.

This is to help the continent acquire self-reliance against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will get the technology used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs developed in Europe.

The Senegalese President said the aim was to have 60% of vaccines administered in Africa produced in Africa as well.

In the future, the new African vaccine hub might also produce jabs for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

A ceremony marking the mRNA technology transfer will be held later in Brussels at a summit between the European Union and the African Union.

From February 5 – 8, 2022, five deaths were recorded.

On its website, the Service noted that current active cases stand at 396. Out of these cases, five are said to be severe while three are critical.

The Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and 11 out of the 16 regions recorded active cases. The Ahafo, North East, Northern, Oti and Savannah regions are not battling with active cases.

According to the GHS, a total of 121 individuals contracted the virus as of February 8. The Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta and the Western North regions, as well as, the KIA recorded new cases.

These additional cases bring Ghana’s confirmed Covid-19 cases to 158,159 since the emergence of the virus in March 2020.

So far, the Ghana Health Service has discharged 156,332 people who have recovered from the virus from the various health institutions in the country.

As of February 1, the GHS reported 1,412 deaths since the emergence of the virus.

The death toll increased by three in its subsequent update on February 2.

Four more deaths have brought the death toll to 1,419 as of February 3. Currently, Ghana’s active cases stand at 1,010.

All 16 regions in the country and the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are battling with active cases. Out of the total figure, nine of the cases are severe while three others are critical.

On its website, the Service also revealed that a total of 105 new cases were recorded as of February 3.

These new cases were recorded in five regions and the KIA. The five regions are; Greater Accra, Upper West, Volta, Upper East and Western North.

The additional cases recorded bring Ghana’s confirmed Covid-19 cases to 157,751.

So far, the Ghana Health Service has discharged a total of 155,322 individuals who have recovered from the virus.

When fully developed and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) approves, covid-19 test kits will be affordable and easily accessible nationwide.

The turnaround time for test results would also be reduced.

For now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended technique for testing covid-19 is reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) testing.

This type of test is cumbersome, requires in-depth technical know-how, is time-consuming and requires specialised real-time machines.

It is also very expensive due to the reagents or chemical components.
In looking for cheaper alternatives, UnternehmerTUM, a German company has partnered with Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to implement the Lab for the Production of Test kits project.

This project has been running since February 2021 and aims to develop affordable and effective covid-19 test kits locally.

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Molecular Medicine and leading Scientist on the project, Dr Samuel Asamoah Sakyi, revealed that the “RT-Lamp assay employs colourimetric output, a colour change from red (negative) to green (positive).

“It is easy to do, inexpensive, and turnaround time is fast. This is the advantage the RT-Lamp assay has over the WHO recommended qPCR method of testing for SARS-CoV-2.”

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The 500,000-euro project is in part funded by the develoPPP programme and implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

It is not only developing local covid-19 test kits but also training 100 biomedical scientists to equip them with the knowledge and skill needed to run the tests.

So far, 40 Ghanaian biomedical scientists have been trained in the testing procedure which includes nasopharyngeal sample collection and extraction of RNA.

Dr Samuel Asamoah Sakyi explained the importance of the project stating that “anyone would be able to do a simple procedure that can give you results comparable to that from any of the known testing centres irrespective of where you find yourself in Ghana.”

He is happy that the trainees, most of whom had never extracted RNA or DNA before will be well equipped to do so.

A Biomedical Research Scientist, Samuel Kekeli Agordzo, who takes the trainees through the practical sessions said, “I am confident the participants will be able to replicate the RT-LAMP assay because most of our facilities do not have the qPCR which is expensive.”

Participants hope to spread their new found knowledge at their various places of work.

The Lab for the Production of Test kits project will not just reduce the burden on the few existing testing centres like the KCCR and Noguchi but ensure test kits are readily available and accessible in every corner of Ghana with biomedical scientists qualified to extract samples and test properly for accurate results.

According to him, the money was initially directed at the various campaigns that sought to inform and educate Ghanaians on the Covid-19 and its safety protocols.

“We’ve provided $430 million to Ghana to fight Covid. And this includes different activities including initially the communication campaign, the sensitization campaign, equipping labs, equipping new facilities to receive patients, to treat patients,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express, Thursday.

He added that the World Bank further provided an additional $130million purposely for the purchase of vaccines.

But while the World Bank was actively supporting Ghana’s Covid-19 fight, it also set into motion several projects to enable the country’s economy to stay afloat.

Pierre Frank Laporte noted that these projects were targeted at Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)which are the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

He stated that the Bank accelerated the disbursement of projects like the Ghana Economic Transformation projects which targeted SMEs in particular.

“The Tourism project that was suffering from other places before Covid. The Minister has done an excellent job in pushing these activities forward, helping a lot of small businesses,” he said.

He added that the World Bank was further accelerating the disbursement of its social protection project while approving $100 million more to support the project.

“So a lot of things are happening. We’re hoping that the Development Bank, the Development Finance will also get resources for small businesses so a lot happened that we’ve done,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pierre Laporte has revealed that Ghana could receive a further $60 million to help in its Covid-19 fight.

“You see the Omicron variant has reminded us of something that we should never think that Covid will just go away like that. It may go away, it may not. At this point in time, we’re discussing a further tranche of support for Covid.

“If all goes well it should be available early March. We’re looking at $60million dollars, which 20 will go directly for more vaccines and the 40 for additional treatment centres,” he said.

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“As the president has said, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19,” a White House official told VOA. “We are proud to be able to deliver these safe and effective vaccines to the people of Ghana.”

The White House told VOA the 565,110 doses of the vaccine shipped on Tuesday.

They will be distributed through COVAX, a global initiative founded to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

These new doses come from the half-billion doses secured by President Joe Biden’s administration over the summer, the White House said.

Ghana, a coastal nation of 31 million people, has reported nearly 157,000 cases of the virus, according to the World Health Organization. That has resulted in 1,395 deaths. It has administered more than 9.7 million vaccine doses.

The nation appears to have recently emerged from a fourth wave of infections. The last wave, which peaked in January, prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a Level 3 travel health notice over the high level of infection in the country.

Health advocates welcomed the donations but have long questioned whether the world’s richest nation is doing enough.

“In our view, there’s much more work to do,” said Ava Alkon, a U.S.-based policy adviser for aid group Doctors Without Borders. “We certainly appreciate the efforts that the U.S. government has made thus far. But at this point, in low-income countries, less than 12% of people have gotten even one dose at this point. And as we’re rolling out booster doses in the U.S., we feel that there should be a steady flow of redistributed doses headed towards low- and middle-income countries at this point.”

And she said with the U.S. now distributing free tests and planning to distribute free masks, they should step up their auxiliary efforts, as well.

“We think the U.S. should step in to help fill these gaps wherever they can, wherever they exist, in collaboration with the WHO’s Access to COVID Tools Accelerator, and should also be working to empower countries to procure and produce the tools they need themselves,” Alkon said.

“So, for example, we’d like to see PCR test manufacturers working together with the accelerator to make sure low- and middle- income countries can get the volumes of diagnostic tests they need, and place and price the products within those countries’ reach. And we’d like to see the U.S. government facilitate that process.”

Last month, Ghana’s president announced that the nation will soon launch construction on a manufacturing facility for COVID-19 vaccines, as well as for tuberculosis and malaria vaccines. President Nana Akufo-Addo said the facility is a collaborative project between Senegal, Rwanda and a German biotechnology company.

Although the nation does not mandate vaccination, it is available to all people 15 years and older, including pregnant women, Ghanaian health authorities have said.

According to the government, although its position with regards to COVID-19 vaccination is backed by data, “there is no current mandate requiring mandatory vaccine rollouts within the country.”

This was contained in a letter dated January 18, 2022, in response to a petition from a group of doctors opposed to the government’s rollout of an extensive vaccination programme as one of the effective means of reducing the transmission of COVID-19.

The letter written by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, noted that the vaccination exercise had become necessary because “there was a clear evidence of the public health impact of vaccination in terms of infections, hospitalisations, deaths prevented and improved health outcomes that cannot simply be brushed aside.”

Meanwhile, in another letter to the Presidency, the doctors raised further concerns about the vaccination programme, noting that government’s response that the vaccination rollout was not mandatory, was in contradiction to directives by the Ghana Health Service.

“It is stated in your response that ‘there is no current official mandate requiring mandatory vaccine rollouts within the country.’ However, this seems to be in contradiction to statements made by the Director-General of Ghana Health,” it said.

He stated at a news conference in November 2021 that the government will hold a vaccination drive in December after which the vaccine will be mandatory for employees in all arms of government, health workers, security personnel, staff and students of secondary and tertiary education, and commercial drivers.

“This sentiment was captured in the Daily Graphic in a news article titled, ‘December declared COVID-19 vaccination month.’

“This was further buttressed at the Ministry of Information press briefing which was held on 19th January 2022, where representatives of the Ghana Health Service, including the Director-General himself, provided policy updates on vaccine strategies, repeating the government’s commitment to make the COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for certain particular groups of people, and extending the COVID-19 vaccination programme to include pregnant women,” the letter said as reported by graphic.com.gh.

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Data from the Ministry of Health show that as of January 27, 2022, 3, 543,312, representing 17.7 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated, while 7,221,427, representing 36.1 per cent of the population had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The data also shows that 1,161 persons had received the first booster dose.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service on Monday, January 31, rolled out a five-day national vaccination campaign as part of efforts to increase the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The National Vaccination Days campaign will run from Wednesday, February 2 to Sunday, February 6, 2022.

Codenamed: ‘Operation 2.5 million doses in five days,” the campaign intends to target at least 20 per cent of the 13.2 million population who remain unvaccinated.

All people 15 years and above, including pregnant women, are eligible to receive the vaccine.

According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) website, a total of 153,649 have recovered from the disease.

Some 1,395 people have died from the disease, with 36 people in severe condition and five others in critical condition.

The GHS has indicated on its website that the country currently has 1,876 active cases.

Routine surveillance conducted indicated that out of 475,255 tests conducted, 57,901 people tested positive, while out of 999,300 tests conducted through enhanced contact tracing, 92,035 people tested positive.

International travellers (KIA) tests showed that 6,984 people tested positive out of 766,932 tests conducted.

The Service, therefore, said it had so far conducted 2,241,487 tests since the outbreak of the disease in March 2020, with a positivity rate of 7.0 percent.

On the regional case count, Greater Accra leads with 87,523 confirmed cases, followed by Ashanti with 22,280 cases.

Western has 8,283 confirmed cases, while Eastern has 6,985 cases.

The Service also said that Volta has 5,926 confirmed cases while Central has 5,393 cases.

The Bono East Region, the GHS said, has a total of 2,961 cases and the Bono Region has 2,307 cases.

The Northern Region has a total of 1,863 cases followed by the Upper East Region with 1,713 cases.

Ahafo Region has 1,133 cases, Western North, 1,094, Oti, 928, Upper West, 888 cases, North East, 368 and the Savannah Region with 291 cases.

Sharing his story on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Nii said his wife was laid off due to the pandemic; therefore, he became the sole provider for the family.

With his hospitality business at the brink of collapse, Nii said the regular inflow of funds decreased drastically.

However, being the breadwinner of his family, he had to ensure that his household was well catered for.

As a result, the eight-year savings he and his wife had set up for a rainy day became the source of income for his family.

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But unbeknownst to the couple, half of the eight-year money generated was expended in just two years.

“When it [Covid-19] started, it was devastating. My wife lost her job, and things were very shaky for me, but lucky for us, we had some savings for over eight years, so we relied on that.

“Out of a 100 per cent, in two years, 50 per cent was gone,” he told host Kojo Yankson on Thursday.

Explaining how his business headed downhill, Nii said his workers refused to work after paying them in March 2020.

According to the entrepreneur, this intensified the hardship during the pandemic.

“We are in the food industry; we are registered, and we had everything to show to police to come to work during the lockdown period, but my workers said they were not coming. So I had to do it myself from home.

“Even till now, getting reliable and committed workers is still a challenge. And the business that I run, you have to meet people and talk to them, but due to the pandemic, we have to do it on the phone, and people were not comfortable dealing with you on the phone, so it was tough,” he recalled.

The damages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on many Ghanaian households.

On Tuesday, the Ghana Statistical Service, through its Household and Job Tracker Survey, revealed that two-thirds of households in the country are yet to recover their pre-pandemic income levels.

Nii counts himself as one.

He admits that he is yet to recover from the havoc caused by the disease.

“I haven’t gone back to my pre-Covid-19 income level. But, Percentage-wise, I am making 40 per cent of what I used to be making,” he said.

On February 10, people with weakened immune systems can begin to get access to the therapy, which reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 88% in clinical trials, the government said.

The arrival of a pill that can be taken at home at the first sign of symptoms is sparking optimism about the course of the pandemic, especially amid evidence that the omicron variant causes less severe disease.

But health experts warn emerging variants continue to pose a risk, and worry lower-income regions that struggled to get vaccines will be left behind again.

The U.K. said it has obtained more antivirals per person than any other country in Europe, with almost 5 million courses ordered so far. Merck & Co.’s antiviral molnupiravir and the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab are already being deployed in Britain, with nearly 10,000 patients being treated to date.

A European Union regulatory panel on Thursday recommended granting conditional marketing authorization for Pfizer’s pill, called Paxlovid, for adults with Covid who don’t require supplemental oxygen and are at risk of developing severe disease. 

DJ Ferguson, 31, is in dire need of a new heart, but Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston took him off their list, said his father, David.

He said the Covid vaccine goes against his son’s “basic principles, he doesn’t believe in it”.

The hospital said it was following policy.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital told the BBC in a statement: “Given the shortage of available organs, we do everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival.”

A spokesman said the hospital requires “the Covid-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviours for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimise the patient’s survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed”.

The hospital’s carefully worded statement may suggest other factors lie beyond the patient’s unvaccinated status for his ineligibility, but it refused to discuss specifics, citing patient privacy.

The hospital added that most of the 100,000 people on waitlists for organ transplants will not receive an organ within five years because of the shortage of available organs.

A father-of-two with a third child on the way, Mr Ferguson remains at the hospital, said his loved ones.

His family has suggested he is too weak to be transferred to a different hospital and is “running out of time”.

“My boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in and that makes me respect him all the more,” said David Ferguson.

“It’s his body. It’s his choice.”

It is not the first time an unvaccinated American has faced healthcare obstacles in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a Minnesota woman sued her local hospital after doctors tried to take her unvaccinated husband off the ventilator he had been on for two months.

Just over 63% of the US population is double-jabbed and about 40% of Americans have received a third booster dose.

In its latest update, the GHS noted that in 24 hours, the country’s death toll rose to 1,370. As of January 17, the number of deaths recorded so far was 1,367.

On its website, the Service stated that as of January 18, 169 new cases were recorded. Currently, Ghana is battling with 3,227 active cases.

All 16 regions in the country and the Kotoka International Airport have recorded active cases. Out of the cases recorded, 29 are severe; while 10 are considered critical.

Since the emergence of the pandemic in March 2020, the GHS has confirmed 155,665 Covid-19 cases.

The GHS has discharged 473 individuals from various health institutions in a day. Cumulatively, 151,068 people, who have shown signs of recovery, have been discharged.

While most patients testing positive for the SARs-COV-2 virus are presenting cold-like symptoms, experts recommend taking precautionary steps and advise infected individuals to isolate themselves.

According to top experts, the Omicron variant is said to have a high infectivity rate. However, preliminary studies have shown that the new variant is considerably mild. Symptoms such as a mild fever, scratchy throat, extreme body pain, night sweats, vomiting and loss of appetite are said to indicate the presence of Omicron in the body.

Earlier, Dr Angelique Coetzee, Chairperson of the South African Medical Association, who was also the first one to have discovered the Omicron variant in South Africa, said that the patients being diagnosed with the Omicron have shown no signs of loss of smell and/or taste.

In addition, among the infected Omicron patients, there have been no cases of a stuffy, clogged nose, or a very high temperature, she said. This may be a great differentiator between the Omicron and the Delta.

Recent findings have also listed down two most reported Omicron symptoms in patients.

According to the latest reports by The Sun, the two major omicron symptoms are a runny nose and headache.

Irene Peterson, Professor of Epidemiology and Health Informatics at University College London, said that runny nose and headache can be symptoms of many other infections, but they can also be symptoms of COVID or Omicron.

As per the doctor, about 20 symptoms of Omicron have been reported, of which runny nose and headache are the most common. She advises patients suffering from these symptoms to not dismiss it as a regular cold, rather get tested immediately.

The study also highlighted five other prominent symptoms of Omicron such as runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat.

Additionally, according to the UK’s ZOE COVID symptoms study app, night sweats, loss of appetite and vomiting are some unusual symptoms recorded in patients.

If you develop any or most of the Omicron symptoms mentioned above, do not dismiss it as cold or a flu. Rather, get yourself tested and stay isolated until the results are out. If you test positive for the virus, continue isolating yourself.

Monitor your symptoms, wear your masks at all times and do not share any of the utensils of clothes with others. Make sure you sanitize your hands and keep your surroundings clean too.

If you haven’t got vaccinated till now, book your appointment as soon as possible. Vaccination reduces the risk of severe Covid-19 symptoms and hospitalization.

It is a misconception that vaccination does not protect against the contagious virus and lead to other health issues. Do not believe them and get your shot.