Ghana’s Covid-19 infection rates keep increasing, and some infections include new strains of the virus never before seen in the country. This has led to the filling of treatment centers, overwhelming the country’s health-care system.
Ghana is not yet close to the peak seen during the first wave of infections in the middle of last year, but they could quickly reach that level if cases keep rising at the current rate.
Ghanian government may impose another partial lockdown
President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Sunday that the country’s health-care system is close to being overwhelmed. He also stated that a partial lockdown might go into effect if the infection rates continue to increase.
“Our Covid-19 treatment centers have gone from having zero patients to now being full because of the upsurge in infections. At this current rate our healthcare infrastructure will be overwhelmed.” The president said.
This has led to worries about what another lockdown might do to one of West Africa’s largest economies.
Akufo-Addo said details about access to vaccines and a roll-out plan would be announced, “very soon.”
The president also added that some people arriving from abroad have tested positive for “new variants” of the virus, without giving details.
More people across Africa are getting infected with the coronavirus
According to the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a second coronavirus wave is infecting twice as many people per day than at the height of last year’s first wave and has yet to peak.
The rise has raised concern across the continent, especially as the cash-strapped governments have been unable to secure supply deals with vaccine manufacturers.
Last week, Gambia recorded its first two cases of the highly infectious coronavirus variant first found in Britain, in what appears to be the first confirmation of its presence in Africa.