The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed five cases of the Monkey Pox Disease in three regions of the country.

The regions include Eastern, Western and Greater Accra.

The Director-General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, disclosed this at a news briefing on Wednesday.

He explained no death has been recorded so far with none of the infected persons also in critical conditions.

“A total of 12 suspected cases have been investigated since May 24, 2022, and one of the cases was recorded in a Ghanaian who travelled to the United States of America,” he explained.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye cautioned there is currently no treatment for Monkey Pox but added vaccines are available though not present in Ghana.

“But I don’t think we have reached a stage where we will call for vaccination in Ghana. The cases being recorded were mild to moderate,” he stated.

Most patients only experience fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue and those with more serious illnesses may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that could spread to other parts of the body.

The disease, he said, could be infectious before one could fully show the symptoms and, therefore, must avoid direct contact with people once they showed those symptoms.

He has, therefore, advised members of the public to report to the nearest hospital when not feeling well and experiencing some skin rashes.

Listen to Dr Kuma-Aboagye in the audio attached above:

The revision includes people between ages 15 and 18 receiving the Pfizer jabs.

Previously, the Food and Drugs Authority gave permission for only people aged 18 and above to be inoculated with the vaccine.

The Service believes that children in schools are more vulnerable to the Covid-19 disease, hence their bold step to include them in the vaccination exercise.

Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, told the media that vaccinating children within that age range helps the country better fight the pandemic.

“Pfizer has been registered fully for 12 years and above by the US FDA. Ghana originally registered Pfizer for 18 years and above. Through FDA, we have been able to have a reduction to 15 years.

“This is very important news for us because the most active group in our society are the young ones at that age, and with Christmas and all the activities coming they will be more active, so vaccinating those in that group will reduce school outbreaks and help us reduce transmission to adults,” he said.

He added that Ghana will be on track to attain herd immunity if the population within that bracket is vaccinated.

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Meanwhile, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye has urged the public including health workers to be on alert about the outbreak of Yellow fever in some parts of the country.

A statement, signed by the Director-General, Dr Patrick Aboagye, said the testing is genuine.

This comes on the back of a viral video that captured two passengers who allegedly tested positive to covid-19 upon arrival at KIA.

They took to social media to register their displeasure about the results and the need for them to go into isolation for seven days.

The women, who have been identified as Mavis Boateng and Ivy Ankrah, claimed the mandatory antigen test for arriving passengers was fake.

But reacting to the video, Dr Kuma-Aboagye explained that although some passengers may have a negative PCR test from the country of origin, there can be a possibility of a positive result upon their arrival.

“It is worth noting that a person can present a negative PCR test on arrival and still test positive at KIA because he or she may be incubating the virus. Also, your test result status is specifically with reference to the date of doing the test, so any risky activities afterwards can change your status,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, GHS has assured the testing is authentic and meets international standards.

According to the Director-General, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, there is no such situation at hand, adding that hospitals still have empty beds.

This follows a warning from the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) that major hospitals are being overstretched.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, the General Secretary of the GMA, Dr Justice Yankson, stated that hospitals in Ghana are not equipped enough to handle the fast-rising cases as the country is nearing a possible third wave.

But addressing a press conference, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said enough interventions have been put in place as the country continues to fight the disease.

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“Our ICUs are not full. For example, Ridge Hospital has 16 ICU beds but as we speak, they only have three occupants. Ga East has about 19 cases currently on admission with six on ICU.

“There is a plan to upgrade further, with support from the COVID-19 Fund, the ICU capacity at the Ridge Hospital,” he explained.

Though he stated Ghana’s critical cases have increased, he was quick to add they are not overwhelmed yet.

Meanwhile, Ghana, as of July 8, had recorded 23 severe conditions with 11 patients in critical condition.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has discarded over 500 expired Covid-19 vaccines in the Northern and Oti Regions as of last Friday.

This comes after residents of the two regions displayed less interest in getting vaccinated although the service made several efforts to have the majority vaccinated.

Speaking at a media briefing, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said the service noted that the expiring date on the second vaccines received was close hence a plan to have the regions vaccinated immediately.

“All regions were able to use it except for 480 doses that were not being able to use in the Northern Region and 100 doses in Oti region.”

He explained that “the last 315,000 vaccines that were received, the second one, we received on March 30 and it expired on April 13.

“So what it means is that by the time we offloaded and distributed to the region, we started to distribution on Good Friday that is when vaccines were being moved into the regions to ensure that they are used before they expire.”

Meanwhile, some residence in the Northern Region tells JoyNews they are not convinced the vaccine is safe following the rumour about the negative effect in the public domain.

“No I won’t take it, people say if you take the vaccine you will die so, I don’t want to take it and die,” a residence said.

According to her, a lot of people have said they are not going to take the vaccine hence her fear to join the few in taking the jab.

For another resident, the rumour that Covid-19 cannot survive under harsh weather condition such as the sun is his assurance of safety.

“For me, I will not take because the sun that we are inside in Tamale is more than the vaccine that they are going to give us so the sun is better for me, so I am not to take the vaccine,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ghana has recorded a significant drop in active Covid-19 cases, thus from over 8,000 to less than 1,000 between February and April 2021.

The Ghana Health Service is also giving assurance of the country receiving its second batch of vaccines by May this year.