Ghanaian president warns of health care overload as Covid affairs rise

Ghana is not yet close to a peak seen during the first wave of infections in the middle of last year, but could quickly reach that level if cases continue to rise at the current rate.

If they do, the president has said he will impose another partial exclusion, despite concerns about what it would do to one of West Africa’s largest economies.

“Our Covid-19 treatment centers have used zero patients to be satiated now due to the surge in infections,” the president said. “At this current rate … our healthcare infrastructure will be overwhelmed.”

Across Africa, a second coronavirus wave infects twice as many people a day as at the peak of last year’s first wave, and according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet reached a peak.

The rise has raised concerns across the continent, where, unlike in Europe and the United States, governments with cash taxes have not been able to secure the supply of vaccine manufacturers.

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Akufo-Addo said details on access to vaccines and a roll-out plan would be announced soon.

He said some people arriving from abroad tested positive for ‘new variants’ of the virus, without giving details.

Last week, Gambia recorded its first two cases of the highly contagious coronavirus variant first found in Britain in the first confirmation of its presence in Africa.

“The presence and extent of the distribution of the new variants in the general population continues to be determined,” Akufo-Addo said.

.Source